Adored [Free!] [KnB]

19

Makoto stayed late after his shift at the cat cafe, petting the little kitten with the teal eyes. He'd decided to call her Aqua because of the unusual color of her eyes. Her brown fur was soft and fluffy and Makoto just didn't have the heart to tear himself away from her. Being with the cats made it seem like everything else could fade away, like he could forget about the troubles Kagami brought to him. He didn't blame his friend, he always asked to hear Kagami's problems, Makoto just had a bad habit of making Kagami's problems his own. Sitting in the cat cafe, petting Aqua made him feel much calmer.

"I don't know what I'd do if I ever saw Sousuke dating someone else and not me," he whispered to the cat. She nodded slightly as if she had understood what Makoto had said. Makoto giggled, this little kitten was really too cute. He scratched under Aqua's chin and little Aqua let out a loud purring sound. "I know something will work out for Kagami, even if it's not with Aomine."

A knocking on the cafe window surprised him. The cafe was closed at this time, there were no more employees or customers inside and anyone outside should be able to read the sign that had the cafe's hours. He relaxed a little, figuring that it was just Sousuke outside trying to get his attention. Makoto was at the cafe far later than usual after all. "Ah, sorry Sousuke, just a minute-" Makoto stopped talking when he turned and actually saw the person standing on the sidewalk outside the cafe, looking in.

Makoto went to the front door, opening it only enough to stick his head out and look at the tanned man walking towards the door, "Aomine?"

"Is Kagami here?" He didn't even bother saying hello to Makoto.

Makoto was a bit annoyed at that, but didn't let it show. "No, sorry," he smiled apologetically, "What did you want?"

"Just need to ask him about something he said," Aomine looked down at Makoto, "Where is he?"

Makoto shrugged a little, opening the door, "Home I'd assume. You can come in if you want." He stepped aside a little, to let him in. He was hoping that Aomine would, he might have a chance to tell Aomine about Kagami's true feelings and make things better between them.

Without a word, Aomine walked inside. He looked around a little, he'd never been to the cat cafe before. "Kagami always says he's here, working late, but this place obviously closes pretty early."

"I don't know if closing at 8pm is what I'd call closing early," Makoto closed the door, locking it again. Aomine obviously didn't know about Kagami's modeling job and Makoto didn't want to be the one to tell him.

"He says he's here working until after midnight, or even until 2 or 3 in the morning," Aomine turned to look at Makoto.

Makoto shrugged, "There's work to be done." He hated lying, even if it was to protect his friend.

"You're Makoto, right?" Aomine narrowed his eyes at him and Makoto only nodded in response. "You're the one Kagami's always talking to then."

"I don't know about always," Makoto let out a nervous laugh.

Aomine ignored the comment, "Has he told you anything about stuff with me?"

"Kagami talks about a lot of things," Makoto skirted the question and walked around Aomine back to the cat room and to where Aqua was sitting on one of the chairs. "Congratulations on the new girlfriend, by the way."

"So he did tell you about that," he said, following Makoto into the other room and sat down in a chair across from him. Almost instantly, Tiger ran up and jumped into Aomine's lap. Aomine's hands flew up, "H-hey get off me!" Tiger refused, he moved closer to Aomine's torso and plopped down right over Aomine's pelvis. He was a big cat that took up Aomine's entire lap and was a bit heavy.

Makoto couldn't help laughing, he knew that if Kagami were here, he'd be jealous of how close the cat is to Aomine. "Don't worry, Tiger's really quite a gentle cat."

"Tiger?" Aomine looked at Makoto, raising an eyebrow.

Makoto nodded, smiling, "Mhm! I named him because his fur looks like a tiger and he's really similar to..."

Makoto couldn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to, Aomine did for him, "To Taiga. But I doubt Kagami would be jumping into my lap like this."

Makoto swallowed, he couldn't respond to that, he couldn't give away his friend's secret. "Um, so why were you asking if Kagami's talked about you?"

Aomine was quiet for a moment, looking down at Tiger then back up at Makoto, "Does he hate me?"

Makoto bit his lip, he should've known that this is what Aomine wanted to talk about. He needed to tell Aomine something, something to get him to talk to Kagami again, "I don't think so. He practically always smiles when he talks about-" Makoto cut himself off, he couldn't keep going without giving away how much Kagami actually loved him.

"Really?" Luckily, Aomine seemed to have missed the giveaway in Makoto's words. "He sounded pretty sincere when he said it yesterday."

"I think..." Makoto had to say something, if he could help make this right, he would, "I think he's just hurting right now..."

"But why?" Aomine let out an exasperated sigh.

Makoto shook his head, "That I can't tell you. You'll have to talk to Kagami yourself." Aomine just looked back at Makoto, brows furrowed.