Author's note: It's finally. DONE. = A = So thus completes this fic; now it's on to writing a few drabbles, and later another Kikuro fic (one not based on my rp, but I already have a fairly good plot for it, so it should be acceptable ^ ^; and just so you know, I wrote the last 600 words or so when I was half-asleep and delirious, so I apologize if it sounds confusing or awkward in places-my mind was a mess. I'll read it over later once I get a good night's sleep (huh! Like that will ever happen!). Anyway, enjoy the final chapter (I told you it was going to be long!), and I hope you enjoyed the whole fic as well!

Everything seemed surreal to Kuroko when his eyes fluttered open. Feeling disoriented, he took in his surroundings; he was in a dimly-lit hospital room, he figured, from the pale walls and the faint beeping from what sounded like an IV. The blue-haired slowly and lazily turned his head to the side when he felt something shift beside him. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. It was Kise; the model was still holding his hand and had fallen asleep at his bedside. The blond shifted again and slowly opened his eyes, smiling sweetly when he saw Kuroko staring back at him. "Kurokocchi…" he whispered in a tone that matched his smile. "You're awake."

"So are you." Came an almost immediate reply from the smaller boy. He hadn't intended to be humorous, but Kise chuckled anyway.

"I heard the doctors talking," the blond continued in soothing tones, bringing a hand up to gently stroke Kuroko's hair. "They said you should be fine, but they want to keep you on antibiotics for a few more hours."

"Ah." Kuroko wanted to lean into Kise's touch, but considering how much it was spinning, he thought it best not to move. "How's your shoulder?" the blue-haired asked after a few moments' silence.

Much to Kuroko's disappointment, the model pulled away from him and sat up in his chair, his beautiful smile almost completely disappearing. "It hurts pretty badly, actually," he said, a frown hinted on his perfect face. Looking away he added, mostly to himself, "Your father made it worse, I think."

The smaller boy stared up at Kise, an apologetic look in his sapphire-blue eyes. "We are in a hospital," he told the blond plainly, "you should have the doctors look at it while we're here."

Kise's frown deepened at the suggestion. "Yeah, I could," he replied quickly with distaste. "But I don't need to. It's fine; I want to get out of here as soon as possible, anyway."

It was Kuroko's turn to frown. He hated arguing with Kise, and he especially didn't want to do so when he felt like this, but the model was being so stubborn that he really didn't have a choice. "I know you don't like hospitals," the blue-haired replied quietly. "But honestly, Kise, you're being ridiculous. They are here to help you, after all, and it would be better if you had them look at it." After a short pause he added, "It would make me feel better, at least."

He knew Kise couldn't argue with that last statement; Kise's desire to please him was too strong. So when the taller boy glanced back at him with a slightly defeated expression, he knew he had won this little quarrel. "Alright, Kurokocchi." he sighed. "If it'll make you feel better…I'll have them look at it."

The smile pulled more at Kuroko's lips as his face softened. "Good." He turned his head back to stare up at the ceiling, closing his eyes. He almost fell asleep when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. "Kise-kun, what are you doing?" he asked the blond, who was climbing into the bed next to him. "I don't think you're allowed to do that."

"Kurokocchi's sleeping; I want to sleep with Kurokocchi too!" Kise said in that childishly innocent and cheerful tone of his.

Not really having the energy nor the will to go against him at this point, he said nothing and allowed the model to snuggle up close to him, breathing contently when Kise's warm body pressed up against his. Kuroko took a quick peek up at his face and was pleased to see that sweet smile return. Kise always looked so attractive when he smiles like that. The blue-haired allowed a small smile to appear on his own face as they laid there, quietly and contently, for what seemed like hours…until the nurse walked in, hands on her hips.

"That's really frowned upon, you know."

Kuroko's smile was replaced with the slightest hint at a frown when Kise pulled away, almost feeling chilled at the absence of his body heat. The model seemed to be equally as disappointed. "But I wasn't even doing anyt—"

"Kuroko-kun, how are you feeling?" the nurse cut him off as if he wasn't even there and walked over to check the IV levels, speaking in the same firm, unamused tone as when she first walked in.

"Um…better." Kuroko replied quietly, his voice sounding miniscule compared to the nurse's. He tried to ignore the slightly irritated pout on the blond's face. "My head is still spinning, though." Kise sat back down in his chair with a huff like an ignored puppy, moving to hold the blue-haired's hand again.

"Is that so?" the nurse said somewhat disinterestedly, writing something down on her clipboard. "I'll see if I can get you something for that, then." With that, she turned on her heel and strode swiftly out of the room before either male could get in another word.

They turned their eyes to each other. "Well she doesn't seem very nice," the blond commented with another huff, still pouting. "Or very happy."

"She's just having a bad day," Kuroko suggested, though he wasn't one hundred percent sure about it. "I'm sure she has nothing against you personally."

"Well, she wasn't very nice to you, either!" Kise whined, squeezing the shorter boy's hand lightly. "You're her patient! She should at least be nice to you!"

The blue-haired gently squeezed the model's hand, sighing just a little bit. "She is doing her job, and that is the most important thing. It's not her fault if things just aren't going her way today."

The taller boy puffed out his cheeks childishly, still pouting, as he started to absently twirl a lock of his yellow hair. "Kurokocchi, you're so diplomatic…" he mumbled, once again defeated by Kuroko. There was just no way he could win an argument against him. Somewhat reluctantly he admitted his defeat, and the room became silent. However it didn't take long for Kise to become restless again. He slyly glanced over at the doorway for any sign that the nurse was coming back; grinning that there were none, he proceeded to climb back into the bed with Kuroko, who appeared to be asleep.

"The nurse is going to get mad at you again if you do that." A familiar voice stopped him before he had even lifted up the blankets.

"Uwaah, Kurokocchi! How did you even know what I was doing? I thought you were asleep!" the model wailed dramatically, half startled and half disappointed that he still wasn't able to get away with anything.

Kuroko opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the taller boy with his usual expressionless face. "You are very predictable, Kise-kun. I knew what you were going to do even before you did it."

The blond clutched his chest and acted as if he had been shot in the heart. "Ahhh, so mean! You really didn't have to sound like Akashicchi, either! That's just overkill!"

The smaller boy just blinked at the melodramatic model, his amusement not showing on his face. "It was not my intention to sound like Akashi-kun," he explained quite plainly, "but I could—"

"No." Kise protested emphatically, his face suddenly serious with a touch of fear in his honey-colored eyes. "I will have absolutely none of that."

The nurse re-entered the room with a loud sigh just as the blue-haired was about to smile again. With Kise's help he adjusted to more of a sitting position as she handed Kuroko a glass of water and two small pills. "These are for the dizziness," she told him, in a quieter, more even tone than she had previously, "the doctor will be prescribing these to you, as well as some pain killers and additional antibiotics, so be sure to take all of those regularly. The doctor should be in shortly to explain more of that to you." With a bit of a forced smile, she turned to leave the room once again, but stopped at the doorway and turned back to face them. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" Kuroko looked over at the blond.

"Um…yes, actually…" Kise started, dropping his eyes to the ground when the nurse raised an eyebrow at him.

With a sigh, the smaller boy came to his rescue. "His shoulder is in a lot of pain as a result of the same incident," Kuroko told the nurse, "and we were wondering if you could take a look at that as well."

"Hmm," the nurse responded with a bit of a frown, "I guess we could…" She walked back into the room toward Kise. "So…on a scale of one to ten, how bad does it hurt?" she asked as she started inspecting his shoulder, looking for any sort of bruising.

"Uh…about a seven?" the blond answered uncertainly, avoiding eye contact with the nurse and throwing continuous glances over in Kuroko's direction.

Writing some things down in a notepad she had taken out of her pocket, the nurse proceeded to probe his shoulder again, pressing in certain areas and asking him if it hurts more when she does more. The quiet winces from the model were enough of an answer for her; making a few more notes in her notepad, she straightened herself up again. "Alright, wait right here." She told him, and exited the room.

Kise rubbed his shoulder with a soft whimper, like a dog licking his wounds. "Ah, that really hurt," he complained to the blue-haired, who had been watching him intently the whole time. "She pressed down way too hard; it's probably gonna bruise!"

"You're overreacting," Kuroko retorted, though his eyes showed a hint of concern. "You'll be fine; worst case scenario is that you'll have to not play basketball for a while."

The blond just huffed and leaned back in his chair, continuing to rub his shoulder. "Yeah, but still…" he mumbled childishly. They sat in silence for a while, waiting for either the nurse or the doctor to come back, until a thought occurred to Kise. "Say, Kurokocchi…" he said hesitantly, "what are you going to do now…?"

The smaller boy stared back at him, slightly confused. "Do? Well, obviously I will be unable to play basketball until my arm heals…"

"No, that's not what I mean." Sighed the model, hanging his head a little bit. "I mean what are you going to do? You can't really go back to your dad's house, can you?" He stopped and bit his lip, looking away and hoping the answer would be "no".

There was a long pause before Kuroko answered him. "Well, it is my house, as well, so…"

"But I don't want you to go back there!" Kise protested, a little too loudly, but the desperation was obvious in his voice. "You'll just get hurt again..!"

"He doesn't do that all the time though," Kuroko tried to reassure the distressed model. "I'll be fine, trust me." After noticing the unconvinced look on the blond's face he added, "Besides, where would I go?"

Kise's eyes widened the slightest bit and looked away; he hadn't quite thought that far ahead yet. "You could…" he fumbled around for an answer, still adverting his gaze from the blue-haired. When he finally found one, he squeezed his eyes shut and blurted it out. "You could stay with me…!"

The taller boy was expecting an immediate rejection. What a stupid answer; Kurokocchi would never agree to something that ridiculous. But when he was met with only silence, he swallowed hard and tentatively opened one eye to steal a glance at Kuroko, thinking he must actually be mad at him.

Kuroko's face wasn't mad; it was stunned. He actually looked at a loss for words. "I…" the blue-haired stammered, "what about…your parents…?"

Warmth surged through Kise's body as he straightened up to look at him straight on, his hope rekindled. "They're out of the country right now," he said with determination, "and they're usually gone for a long time, so we'd really have the house to ourselves!"

The smaller boy looked away, questions buzzing through his head. Live with Kise? For how long? Would his father come looking for him when he didn't come home? What about his belongings? How would he get all of that out of his house? What would happen if Kise's parents came home? Too many things could go wrong. "I…do appreciate your concern, Kise-kun," he started to answer, "but really, I'll be fine—"

Obviously Kise wasn't willing to take no as an answer. The model took Kuroko's hand in both of his and looked deep into his sapphire-blue eyes. "I can't let you go back there," he stated, his tone completely serious. "Not when I know you might get hurt." When the smaller boy didn't respond, he sighed and lowered his head for a few brief moments to gather his thoughts, then went on. "Kurokocchi, you don't have to stay with that bastard if so cruel to you, and I just want to keep you safe. We'll work something out. And I can go with you or something to go get your stuff when he isn't home, and my parents really want to meet you anyway since I talk about you all the time to them, so you really don't have to worry about them, either…" At this point he bit his lip and looked away, realizing he was just rambling on and on trying to convince Kuroko to stay with him, if only for a little while.

The nurse came back into the room before Kuroko had a chance to respond. The blue-haired gave Kise's hand a light squeeze before looking up at the nurse and the doctor, who had entered the room behind the nurse. "Well," the doctor said with a loud sigh, his deep voice resonating throughout the room, "the good news is that once we get a few things cleared up and your prescriptions filled out, you're free to leave."

"And the bad news…?" asked Kuroko, raising an eyebrow the slightest bit.

The doctor wore a small frown. "You said you played basketball, right?" he looked at the smaller boy over the top of his reading glasses. Kuroko nodded, already knowing what he was going to say next. "Well, you probably should have figured this out on your own, but you're not allowed to play again until that arm of yours heals completely. I'll have you follow up with your regular doctor in a couple weeks. Same goes for you." He pointed his pen at Kise and threw him a similar authoritative look. "Your injury, thankfully, isn't as bad—it's just a little bit of muscle damage—but it would be smart for you to just lay off the court until it heals. Now, I'm going to give you a splint to immobilize that shoulder, and you should keep it on at all times and take it off only when you go to bed at night. You should also follow up with your doctor in a couple weeks. As for you, Kuroko, I'm prescribing you some painkillers and two different antibiotics, one of which is a topical cream, so you'll have to have someone change your bandages for you once a day when you put that on. Alright?" When they both nodded, the doctor smiled and turned to leave the room.

"I'll be back shortly with your splint and your replacement bandages, then later with your prescription forms." The nurse added, also with a bit of a smile, before following the doctor out of the room.

Kuroko blinked and stared at the doorway. "I have practice later today…" he said, mostly to himself.

The model's eyes widened. "Ah!" he had a mini panic-attack. "I was supposed to have one today, too! I completely forgot!" He looked at the clock and shuddered, a few tears falling for dramatic effect. "I'm already late…sempai's going to kill me…Kurokocchi, save me!"

"That's impossible. I have my own practice to attend." The smaller boy responded immediately.

"So mean!" Kise sobbed. Then suddenly his expression sobered. "Anyway, Kurokocchi…" he leaned forward and rested his elbow on the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hand, not looking directly into Kuroko's eyes. "About what I said earlier…"

He was about to say "forget about it" when he felt a hand gently pat the top of his head. "Kise-kun is a kind person." The blue-haired said calmly, eyes forward.

This response earned a slightly confused pout from the model. "'I'm kind'?" he huffed. "What's that supposed to mean…?"

Kuroko turned his head and looked down at the blond with the faintest smile. "You are very kind for giving me permission to stay at your house, Kise-kun."

Kise just pouted more, sighing and sitting back in his chair. "Kurokocchi, you're still not being straightforward. What are you trying to say?"

The smaller boy blinked, but otherwise his expression was neutral. "I've decided to accept your offer." He said, as if it was obvious.

The blond's heart skipped two beats, his eyes wide enough to pop out of his head. He suddenly became so excited he didn't even know how to think anymore. "K…K-K-Kurokocchi?!" His mouth gaped open and he leaned forward on the edge of his seat, clutching the very edge of the bed. "Eehhh?! You mean you really…? You're really going to stay with me?!" When Kuroko nodded plainly, he tried to resist the urge to just flail out of the room screaming; instead he flung himself at Kuroko, hugging him tightly and rubbing his cheek on Kuroko's head, crying dramatic tears of joy. "Uwaaaah! Kurokocchii, I'm so happy I could just die!"

"Please let go." Kuroko requested calmly, but with a hint of annoyance, threatening physical harm if the blond didn't do as he was told. Kise, of course, was too happy to even register that the smaller boy even spoke, but his mood remained unchanged even when Kuroko sent an Ignite Pass into his stomach with his uninjured arm.

"Uwaah, Kurokocchi I'm so happy…~!" the model rubbed his eyes with one hand while the other clutched his aching stomach.

The blue-haired flexed his hand and glanced over at the door. "Yes I know, you said that already; please stop being so repetitive."

The nurse came back into the room at that point, and Kise did calm down a bit, although he was still trembling with excitement, a childish grin glued to his face. He just stared at Kuroko with big golden puppy-dog eyes as the nurse helped him into his shoulder splint and handed the extra bandages to Kuroko and said "I'll be right back with those prescription slips" before leaving again. The blue-haired looked back over at Kise, whose eyes were positively sparkling. "Kise-kun, please calm down. I know you're happy; I'm happy too. But really I think you're overreacting."

The blond lunged forward to hug him again, but the intense pain in his stomach reminded him of last punishment for doing so, so he latched on to Kuroko's hand instead. "Ah, but Kurokocchi, I'm just so happy! I never thought you'd actually say yes!"

"But I did say yes, so there's nothing to freak out about." The smaller boy responded, completely expressionless. "I agreed to stay with you for at least a few days; that's the important thing, right?"

Kise nodded emphatically. "Yes, it is!" he said with just as much intensity. Kuroko took a moment to admire his eyes. Their color, brightness, and intensity could almost rival the sun; he was truly happy. His face—his perfect face—almost seemed to glow; he had never seen him this happy. And his smile…it was infectious, even for Kuroko. The blue-haired touched his fingers to his lips, suddenly noticing his own smile.

"I'm glad." He heard himself say. "I'm glad that I can make Kise-kun happy."

He was wrong if he thought Kise couldn't possibly get any happier, because at that moment his face lit up even more. He pulled Kuroko into another tight embrace. "You always make me happy, Kurokocchi~"

Kuroko wrapped his arms around the model and smiled visibly, inhaling slowly to take in his familiar scent. He was, perhaps, more in love with Kise than he ever has before.

Two boys walked out of the hospital together; the taller boy had his hand resting on the small of the other's back, who was carrying a small bag of bandages and three slips of paper.

The blond looked down at the other and smiled warmly. "Let's go home," he said.

The blue-haired looked back at him, then smiled and nodded silently. They laced their fingers together and started down the sidewalk together.