If I'm admiring, I can't surpass.

Seeing as the blond is back to his jovial self, Aomine lets out a brief sigh of relief that he quickly disguises with a muffled yawn. Finding Kise’s smile to be too bright, Aomine averts his gaze elsewhere.

"Eh? You do have a point there, Aminecchi. But it still feels special for some reason, you know?" His bright smile was replaced with a smirk. "And maybe we should change the fact that it's been years."

send me a ✿ and my muse will react to your muse putting a flower in their hair

   Akashi understood quite well what the other was trying to say, and first now did he feel completely sure that Ryouta had at least a small attraction towards him. “I like flowers,” he commented then, as if it would explain just why he was reaction the way he was. Getting things were nice, and it was such a beautiful flower as well. He felt happy – which was a rare thing in itself.

"Shouldn’t be what, Ryouta? Embarrassed? Attracted to me?" deciding to drop the bomb, wondering how the blond haired male would react. It couldn’t be much worse, considering that he was already blushing. Still, now that he thought about it – did he have any feelings towards Ryouta? He had never thought about it like that before, but Kise was very attractive, and whilst he could be overly clingy at times, then he didn’t mind his company.

He blinked in surprise at Akashi's straightforwardness. Although, he should have known that the other would figure him out sooner rather than later with his sharp observation skills. Attracted to him? The blond's heart flutters like a humming bird whenever Akashi smiles at him, and he's often caught himself staring at the other's lips without making a conscious decision to do so. He'd never really thought about it before, since they were involuntary reactions. However, once the question was proposed to him he realized he'd be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to Akashi. 

He nervously tucked a stray hair behind his ear and swallowed loudly before answering. "I...think I am attracted to you, Akashicchi. I'm not sure when it started but I do know that I like you as more than a friend." He attempted to calm his nerves by taking a deep breath. "Oh! But don't feel pressured to return my feelings! I know It's strange to feel this way because we're both males..."

Though – Kise bought Midorima up, so he could at least make the other stop worrying that way. “I do play shogi with Shintarou,” he confirmed, not telling how rare it was though. They used to play all the time, but they further away from each other now and he rarely had any time to spend with other’s unless he had it planned weeks prior.

"I see. Well I'm glad to hear you two are still in contact with each other." and he really was, Midorima didn't seem to have many friends but even he must get lonely."Okay...but if you ever need anything, I'd be more than willing to do what I can."

send me a ✿ and my muse will react to your muse putting a flower in their hair

   How peculiar – Kise found this embarrassing? He wasn’t the one who was currently sporting a beautiful flower in his hair. He quite liked it though, so he wouldn’t get rid of it until it died by itself.

"Why do you find it embarrassing, Ryouta?" Akashi had had a feeling for a while now – that the blond male might be having some sort of attraction to him, but he hadn’t thought too much on the subject since he found it to be highly illogical. Perhaps his observations were actually true? He normally didn’t doubt himself, but when it came to matters such as ‘love’ he wasn’t very experienced.

"Having such an extreme reaction to something so small is a little..." He lowered his arms but kept his eyes glued to the floor. "And you are a boy, Akashicchi...I really shouldn't be..."

"Nothing at all, eh? My delightful company is enough?" His cheerful tone returned and his brow was no longer pinched with worry. 

"I guess us being friends was just never meant to be, huh?"

send me a ✿ and my muse will react to your muse putting a flower in their hair

    Well, that was something. Akashi hadn’t suspected that anyone would put him in the same context as a ‘kind heart’, but he liked it and the flower was more than beautiful.

He noticed that Kise stared after he had eyed the flower once again, and wasn’t sure if he should feel embarrassed or not. “Ryouta, you are staring,” he commented idly, glancing away as he did to hide the just light pink color on his cheeks – the color disappearing soon again. Hopefully Kise hadn’t noticed, but of some reason, Akashi had a feeling that the other had. 

"E-ehh? I'm sorry Akashi, that was rude of me," He nervously adverted his gaze and tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. He could have sworn he saw a light shade of pink dusting the other's cheeks right before he looked away, and the same shade was now on his own cheeks. What was it about Akashi that always made him a little nervous and maybe a little awkward? The flower only seemed to add to his distress (and attraction?) and he groaned inwardly. Kaijou's ace hid his face within the crook of his elbow in an attempt to cover his worsening blush.

"Ah..This is embarrassing..." 

"Oh? I’m pleased to hear that, Ryouta," nodding his head in approval, glad to hear that the other wasn’t slacking off. "If you train hard enough, you will meet me at the final," he assured – already knowing that he would get that far. He never lost after all. "I’m doing well, nothing has changed," not having too much to say, everything was the same after all. Work, work and more work for him to take care of – perhaps a shogi game once in a while.

The bit of praise he received made his heart involuntarily flutter for a moment, but a worried frown passed his lips a moment after. "I hope Akashicchi isn't working too hard again, taking time for yourself every once in a while is important. Oh have you played shogi with Midorimacchi recently? You two used to play all the time."