There was a still silence over the court, only the sound of the basketball rhythmically hitting the concrete echoed as the two parties faced off.

Golden eyes patiently switched from one figure to the other, effortlessly catching sight of the hidden blue-haired boy, before refocusing on the ones in front of him.

He exhaled. His breathing was steady, his grip on the ball unshakable, and his gaze was sharp. He wondered for a second, whether or not he should use his Flames just yet before mentally shaking his head.

They were only warming up, why use his trumps now when he had the whole day to display them?

He grinned, catching the blond off guard before chuckling.

"Ne, Ryota-kun, do you really think that you'll be able to stop me?" he taunted, his gaze never leaving the blond's figure.

Kise returned the grin with a feral smirk, his eyes glinted. He was about to answer the taunt when his captain's voice reached his ears. He grimaced, right, he needed to be careful off his knee.

Mikaël gave a low chuckle, don't lose focus he reminded his underclassman before dribbling past the momentarily distracted blond. His movement was fluid, unhesitant as he dribbled forward.

Although he couldn't see him, he knew Kise was on his heels, most probably cursing himself for his inattention and Kasamatsu for his momentary distraction.

Ryota continued forward, from the corner of his eyes he noticed the dark blue-haired teen charging for him. He grinned, while Aomine's current skill couldn't compare with Future Aomine, the current one was much faster and nimble in his movements.

He was about to make a turn on himself before dodging the male but noticed the mop of discreet blue that aimed for his ball. Barely dodging Kuroko's hand, he passed.

"Sorry, sorry, Tetsuyacchi!" he carefreely sang as he blocked the shorter teen from going forward to help out his teammates.

He didn't bother to check whether or not Reo got the ball in. It was three versus three, with Aomine, Kise, and Kuroko on the same team. Aomine was the one likely to cause troubles, but he was confident in Nebuya's skills when it came to guarding him.

Kise would soon reach Reo, but from this distance, it was no trouble for the Shooting Guard to score. The orange ball easily fell in the loop, awarding his team a point.

He grinned. "Nice, Reocchi!" he praised as he walked up to the male for a high five. "Yay!" both of them cheered as their hands made contact.

"Eikichicchi!" he called out before both males high-fived.

Akashi, who sat on one of the benches, wordlessly smiled. He mutely accepted the drink that Momoi handed him, silently sipping on it before humming in content.

He narrowed his eyes, observing the blue sky with some interest before sliding his gaze back to the court.

"Tss, you could have let me steal the ball, Mika-senpai," Aomine begrudgingly said as he picked the basketball up.

"Mhm, no can do, Daikicchi," Ryota countered with a laugh as he accepted the water bottle Momoi handed him.

The tanned male grimaced. "Then let Tetsu steal it!"

Kuroko mutely gazed at his former Light at his mention. His lackadaisical eyes switched from his former Light to his former Captain before he shrugged them off and walked to the bench. Gladly accepting the clean towel Midorima handed him, he gave the taller a small thanks.

"Why?" Mikaël incredulously asked, sometimes he wondered, how Aomine could be so shameless when it wasn't an official match or serious game.

"Well," the tanned male stuttered. "I mean, it's Tetsu's birthday right?"

Said 'Tetsu' merely sipped on his specially ordered strawberry milkshake.

::

"You know, Lamarre-senpai, I've always found you suspicious," the redhead casually articulated. He crouched down to pick up the canned drinks before standing up. His eyes calmly stared into Mikaël's golden hues, as if searching for something.

An answer.

Ryota didn't still, nor did he show any discomfort at the statement. Giving Akashi his usual sham smile, he tilted his head aside, lightly humming as he lodged a coin in the distributor.

Akashi blinked at the lack of reaction. Undeterred, his lips twitched upward. "For instance, I've always found your overly familiar attitude toward us strange," he explained, referring to the GOM. "I mean, there wasn't anything for you to gain out of every one of us, at first," he stated.

Ryota chuckled, picking the drinks up and stuffing them in the bag, he turned to face the shorter male. "Mou, you wound me Seijurocchi, how superficial do you think I am?"

Akashi chuckled, his eyes flitted to look at the others who were playing before he refocused on Mikaël. "Should we talk for a bit?" he proposed, not letting Mikaël time to answer as he led the way to the nearby bench.

Ryota mutely complied.

"To answer your question, I do think of you as particularly superficial," Akashi provided as he took a seat.

"Ouch!"

Seijuro ignored him. "Precisely, from the moment I saw you, although I had an inkling that you would be a good player, I thought that you were very fake," he nonchalantly expressed.

Ryota grimaced. He couldn't refute. After all, he was fake.

Taking his silence as a sign of approval, Akashi simpered. "I always thought that I was good at reading others, but truth be told, it wasn't hard to guess about you. Somehow, whenever you were with us, Senpai, you would let your guard down."

"Did I?"

"Mhm, it made the whole thing much less interesting," he sighed. "But, there's something that I can't quite understand. It's about you and Kise, Senpai," he addressed, his eyes followed the blond's figure before settling on the green head by his side.

Mikaël refrained himself from reacting at the mention of the blond teen. "How so?" he inquired, sham wonder etched on his face.

"Truth be told, at first I thought it was Kise who was similar to you. After all, I knew you before him, Senpai," he confessed, eyes closed as he reminisced on his time in Teiko. "But after taking a closer look, it didn't seem like Kise was the type to copy other's manner of speech."

Although he wasn't complimenting him, Mikaël felt gratified. Of course, he didn't copy others. He had his own style!

"And you always seemed to keep your distance with him too, Senpai," he reminded, turning his face to look at the taller male. His eyes turned sharper as he seized him up for a hint.

For an instant, Mikaël wondered if the 'other' Akashi would come out.

"As if you were afraid, intimidated even. It was uncalled for because from what I could see, Kise seemed to admire you to some degree," he mused back. "Also, although you outwardly got along quite well with us, you always were overly sensitive to the smallest words."

The younger's eyes met Mikaël's.

"Am I wrong?"

Ryota's breathing hitched. Seeing Akashi look up at him with such eager eyes, filled with curiosity and mild pride from his deduction, he had the sudden urge to hug the younger boy.

"N-o," he breathed out, successfully refraining himself.

The way Akashi's eyes minutely brightened at his words, combined with the satisfied look that adorned his face, sent Mikaël's heart thumping. Cute. 

"Fufu, as I thought," his voice felt like crystal to Mikaël's ears, the older's eyes softened. Akashi's lips were stretched into a large grin, his eyes flicked to rest on Mikaël and he paused.

The smile slowly fell from his lips, his laughter died down, both boys stared at one another in a strange silence.

"That too," Akashi mumbled, his eyes narrowed and he slowly leaned forward. "Your eyes," he whispered. He wanted to extend his hand to touch their rim, trace their edge, but the voice in his head prevented him from doing so.

Mikaël silently breathed, as if afraid that his words would break the atmosphere, he very lowly answered. His voice was almost inaudible and had Akashi not been standing so close, he wouldn't have heard him.

"The way you look at—" his voice trailed off, his eyes trembled, his pupils constricted. "Us," he managed to articulate.

It's how I look at you.

"As if searching for something," Akashi breathed and his voice died down.

They came to a standstill. A very fragile tension linked them, easily shattered, yet it was also the bridge that could lead to much, much more.

Mikaël's eyes didn't dart around, his gaze firmly held Akashi's, yet, without having to look, he could already picture the teen's everything. His heart wavered, he really wanted to lean forward. To close the gap between them, put an end to this— tension.

He couldn't see them, but he easily visualized the boy's pair of lips. They were probably a bit chapped from the weather, he mused, yet he couldn't help but imagine how soft they would feel against his.

There was no way to explain it, but he had the feeling that if he leaned down to kiss him, Akashi wouldn't reject him. No— he would accept him, return his kiss even.

His skin tingled, a shiver ran down his spine.

He wanted him.

He craved him.

But—

But, Akashi wasn't him.

It was wrong.

"Let's join the others, shall we?" Ryota asked, breaking the tension as he brought a hand to gently comb the redhead's hair. "They are probably waiting for their drinks."

Akashi blinked, his eyes searched Mikaël's golden ones for a few seconds before he hummed in approval. Straightening his posture, he stood up, dusted himself off, and grabbed the bag beside them. "Let's."

Ryota simpered, his eyes flicked to the court as they made their way to it.

Silence settled between them. They didn't mention the previous matter, nor did they go back to their previous topic. Everything was buried as if it never happened.

They soon reached the court, handing the drinks to everyone— a lot of people when almost every invited team was complete, Ryota easily dismissed the questions about how long they took.

He slumped down next to Mibuchi, leaning on the taller's shoulder, he hummed to himself. The Shooting Guard sent him a questioning look but didn't inquire.

Ryota half-heartedly listened in the other Uncrowned Kings' talk, sometimes chuckling, sometimes adding his two cents, he kept his eyes riveted on the court.

He followed the way Kise played, never leaving his figure before his eyes flickered to Aomine who stole the ball. His golden eyes narrowed, minutely flashing an indigo hue as he committed every play to his mind.

"What do you think, Mi-chan?"

He blinked, questioningly humming as he moved his eyes to look at the raven head beside him. "Yes-ssu?"

Mibuchi gave a wry smile before sighing. "We were talking about going out, between us, in the weekend," he reiterated for the green head who wasn't listening.

Ryota sat up, allowing Mibuchi to roll his now stiff shoulder. "Just us?" he asked, his golden eyes flickering from one Rakuzan player to the other. "You mean, without the first-years?"

Hayama enthusiastically nodded, a radiant grin on his face. "Mhm! Only us: Muscles, Reo-nee, you and me!" he brightly provided.

Nebuya hurriedly wiped his wet mouth (from drinking) with the edge of his t-shirt. "Oh, oh, let's ask Kiyoshi too!" he grinned. "Let's compete to see who's the manliest!"

Mibuchi rolled his eyes. "Please no, don't tell me you want to see who can eat the most," he muttered, aggravated.

"Ooooh, yeah! Now that's a great idea Reo-nee!" Hayama exclaimed at the mention of an eating contest. "We definitely have to ask Kiyoshi!"

"Kill me now," Mibuchi whispered as he dejectedly rubbed his temple.

Ryota laughed. "Now, now, Reocchi, no need to sound so happy," he teased, his hand good-naturedly patting the other's back.

Mibuchi didn't answer the green's taunt. He sighed. "At least, Kiyoshi's responsible enough," he admitted with a wry smile.

"Whaat? What do you mean responsible, Reo-nee?" Hayama complained. "I'm responsible enough to take care of myself!" he confidently boasted, puffing his chest out.

Mibuchi didn't even bother to entertain the idea. "I'm out," he said, standing up before he made his way to where Hyuga was.

Observing from afar how stressed the Seirin Captain seemed when he saw the Rakuzan Shooting Guard, Ryota laughed.

His phone buzzed.

Incoming call: Sneaky Blondie

Next Chapter will be the Epilogue, the story is coming to its end! 

Also, the first part of the Q&A is up!

Thanks for reading, until next time^^