"Come on, Daikicchi it's not funny!" A blond whined, holding an orange basketball as he strode toward his blue-headed friend, a pout on his face. "It's not my fault I tripped," he added in a whisper as he saw his friend double over.

"Sure, whatever you say Ryo," the blue managed to answer between his laughter.

"It's okay Ryota-kun," a quiet voice called out from behind the blond. Unnoticeably tensing at the voice he hadn't expected, the taller male snapped his head the pale blue's way, his shoulders jumping slightly in the process. Pale blue eyes met the blond's golden ones, "Daiki-kun is simply relieving his stress," he stated, his face wearing a small amused smile.

"Mou, Tetsuyacchi, you're so mean to me!" The blond retorted with a childish attitude not befitting of someone his age. The action which aimed to make the blond look cuter only elicited a stifled chuckle from the shorter man.

"Ha! I knew you were old Ryota, but I didn't expect you to lose your balance like that!" A tall redhead barked from behind the small male, a grin etched on his face as he made fun of the pilot. "Being old sucks, eh?" He rhetorically asked, laughing at the blond's clumsiness.

"I'm not THAT old," the blond stated firmly before remembering how he had passed the forty-year-old milestone a few years ago, his shoulder slumped in dejection. "A-anyway, you're only two months younger Taigacchi!" he countered, trying to regain some composure.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night," the tiger replied as he calmed his laughter. Swiftly moving in front of the still pissed blond he stole the ball from him, letting it spin on top of his finger. "Anyway, you up for another defeat?" he challenged, a smirk on his lips as his eyes glinted a predatory light in anticipation.

"Aren't you too slow though, Baka-mine?" A tanned made defied, having executed a perfect dunk after stealing the ball from the flaunting redhead. "'Cause from where I am, I think you're the who's going to get his ass handed," he smugly stated before letting go of the basketball hoop.

"Ah? You're on Aho-mine, don't come crying when I pummel ya!" The American answered as he got fired up, slamming his fist together in a show of motivation, he strode to the tanned male who stood in the middle of the court, the basketball in hand.

The blond's pout faded as he shook his head defeatedly. "Those two never change, do they?" he asked no one in particular, though the small blue head next to him seemed to nod in agreement. "They even went back to calling themselves by those old high school names," he sighed before unconsciously lowering his voice. "Makes me feel even older."

The blue head sent his blond friend a blank stare, although the pity in it was quite evident to the male who knew him for a long time now. He gently patted the younger man's back in a seemingly soothing way. "Don't worry Ryota-kun, I'm older than you," he reassured.

The blond shot him a glare before childishly huffing. "But you don't look your age, Tetsuyacchi!" he whined. "You look almost the same as in high school, that's so unfair, do you know how many beauty products I need to use nowadays to keep my skin smooth and shiny? Do you? You don't want to, believe me," he rambled before heaving a sigh, a despairing look on his face as his glazed eyes stared into space. "The last time girls came up to me to ask for my number was yesterday. It means that since I went out this morning, none did," he stated seriously, a thoughtful look soon adorning his face.

The pale blue deadpanned at his younger friend, he knew the blond was the biggest drama queen of the miracles, but he had hoped that settling down would have somehow calmed him. Guess it didn't. Heaving a sigh, he turned from the blond, ignoring the whining he went up to the bench where the rest of their group was.

"Ah, Tetsuya," the stylishly dressed male addressed, nodding his head in the smaller's direction in acknowledgment. "Would you like to join us?" He asked as his hand showed the blue head an empty space on the wooden bench, next to the big purple head.

Sensing the small male's gaze on him, the purple giant looked up before gently tilting his head to the side. His eyes flickered from the choux à la crème he was holding to the blue repeatedly, his eyes showing great conflict before resignment overwhelmed them. "Do you want some, Tetsu-chin?" He wondered, although a bit reluctantly.

The blue head shook his head from right to left in denial, uttering a small 'no thank you,' he went to sit down next to the tall giant whose face brightened up at the answer as he happily munched on his homemade desserts. The two, them being the smallest and tallest member of their group, sat side by side, none of them spoke as a peaceful silence settled between them. It wasn't uncomfortable, on the contrary, it relaxed them considerably from all their work. As one read a book and the other ate his pastries, staring at the court and eavesdropping on the nearby conversation, they quietly spent their time.

"Well, I suppose this is another victory for me," the imposing male asserted as his right hand took hold of a black bishop. "This is checkmate Shintaro," he uttered, swiftly knocking out the later's pawn before putting his piece down. A satisfied smile adorned his feature as he overlooked the chessboard, nodding in content. "You have gotten better, Shintaro," he stated as his heterochromatic eyes went to meet with his comrade's green ones. "You almost had me a few times I noticed," he acknowledged as the two started to put their pieces back into the starting position.

The greenhead gently pushed his black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, a sigh, a blend of annoyance and disappointment slipping out of his lips. It seems his action was entertaining, the next second a soft chuckle escaped the winner's lips. "Now, don't be a sore loser Shintaro," the redhead sermoned gently as his hand reached for his cup and thermos. "Winning isn't everything, you should learn from your loss instead," he reminded as he took a sip of his hot beverage, his lips forming an amused smile as he uttered those words. This phrasing, no matter how many time he heard or said it managed to elicit a reaction from him, it brought him back to the time when he was still ignorant. It felt nostalgic, and although he regretted more than a few of his choices at the time, he wouldn't change them if he could. He was able to become who he is because of them after all.

"If you say so, Seijuro," the greenhead answered, unconvinced as he started to put their board game away and back in its wooden case. "I suppose Oha-Asa did warn me about Sagittarius being the Cancer's biggest obstacle today, but I didn't expect it to be to this length," he took a pink ceramic mug out of his bag, white and red hearts were drawn on it with sloppy writing on top of it. Most probably done by a child, although the words were unclear and had faded one could still discern a few letters: "---P- F--H-R'S -AY!" The poor quality of the mug didn't seem to bother the successful doctor who handed it to the redhead for a serving of tea.

The emperor mutely complied to the green's demand, his gaze flickering to the tacky pink mug before his eyes softened slightly, a chuckle escaping his lips as the calming muscat scent wafted to their noses. "So you decided to use it," he mused, his tone a bit teasing although his eyes couldn't hide the warmth he displayed for the mug it seemed.

"It was a gift, nanodayo," the green head replied as he took a sip of the ambered beverage. "What's more, Oha-Asa said my lucky item today was a mug, I didn't plan on using it at first, but my lucky color happened to be pink," he described, his ears reddening a bit as he justified himself. He fake coughed, "I wouldn't have brought it otherwise. It's too precious," he stated seriously, a content look on his face as he gazed at the corny cup.

The redhead hummed, whether he believed his friend or not he didn't say, but the understanding look in his eyes seemed to answer the green's wonder. "We should have insisted when we asked Satsuki to come," He absentmindedly said as his gaze fell on the court where three of their friends were playing.

The gloved male nodded in agreement, "We should, although it is agreeable not to have to endure her cooking, I have to admit it does not feel quite right without her." He said cooly before pausing. "Satsuki should be back by next month," he whispered before pushing his black-rimmed glasses up his nose's bridge. "We will have to ask Daiki if he heard anything about her, nanodayo."

The redhead simply nodded, eyes closed he leaned into the bench.

The two fell into an amiable conversation, exchanging small pleasantries and sometimes going on more serious topics as they sipped their hot drinks, some macarons their chef friend had brought being eaten at the same time. In a seemingly peaceful manner, they spent the remnant of their afternoon.

::

The green head stared at his 'friends' in complete silence. He knew he shouldn't have come, but he couldn't help it. They had promised, they said they would play again, together, no matter what. No matter how long it would take until they managed to get all together.

Unconsciously, he brought his hand to his chest, his finger firmly grasping at his shirt's soft fabric. He could feel the pain in his chest wheeling up as his eyes started to sting. Stupid hormones.

His heartbeat went up, his breathing got quicker. Before he knew it, he turned away from the scene. He couldn't bear to see himself with them when he couldn't be by their side anymore. He swiftly made his way out of this place and up the rooftop, there no one would bother him. It would only be him and his thoughts. Nobody to disturb him and remind him that he was different from them.

Maybe, holding onto the hope of meeting them again and fulfill a promise only he knew of wasn't something he should have done.

Perhaps, he was better off forgetting all of them.

::

"Yo, you coming Tetsu?" A ruff voice called out from behind, snapping the smaller male out of his thoughts. "The others went ahead already," he continued as he started to walk the gym's way. "You don't wanna be late for club activity right? Coach would kill you."

"Ah, yeah," the smaller boy answered, his gaze lingering a few more seconds on the spot he previously spotted the green head. "I'm coming," he mumbled before following his light to the club's changing room.

Throughout the practice, the shadow in training couldn't help but notice the usually assiduous' male's absence. It seemed like others had noted the unusual occurrence too, and after eavesdropping on the coach and captain's conversation, he understood the male had somehow called in sick for practice and went home early.

As he walked back to his home, the other first-string players hanging out with him, he typed a small message on his phone to the absent male's address: "Are you feeling better? Will you be back tomorrow?"

Minutes passed, and by the time he had parted ways with his friends and reached his home, the shadow found himself without any answer from the sick teen. He frowned, the male usually answered in seconds, if not it only took him a few minutes, a quarter of an hour at most. Even ill he usually replied rather quickly.

Maybe he was asleep? He tried to reassure himself, locking his bad feeling deep into his mind.

It remained, as he laid in his bed, the pale blue head couldn't help but think back on the event preceding practice time. He was sure of it, the green mop he spotted, definitely was his friend's.

Then again, he may have imagined it. The boy, in a mist of indigo, did disappear right in front of his eyes before he called out to him. He mentally shook his head. He must have invented it.

People didn't naturally disappear in a cloud of mist. 

New fiction, there isn't a lot of active KNB fic anymore so I thought why not? Updates will be unregular. Thanks a lot for reading this first chapter (prologue) of "Perfect Copy," if you could tell me your thoughts on it I would be very grateful,

Until next time^^