Kuroko no Basket Drabble (09.16 Severely Distracted)
Title: Severely Distracted
Fandom: Kuroko no Basket
Pairing: Kuroko/Kagami, references to GenMiracles/Kuroko
Rating: PG
Notes: written for the 31_themes on 09.16 "come and take him by his lily white hands". Direct sequel to Severely Kidnapped.
"Hey," he greeted Kuroko on their way to school.
"Hey to you," Kuroko greeted back. "What's wrong?" he added without missing a beat.
How was he going to explain this? Oh, I was just practicing in the park yesterday when your old teammates drugged me, handcuffed me to a park bench, and then proceeded to land two very big revelations on my head, one of which was that you might possibly like me?
Nah, too long. And too early in the morning.
"Why do you ask?" Is it because you're watching over your shoulder wondering if I'm going to use you too, or is it because you really care?
It seemed like Kuroko's blue eyes could see everything going on in his head. "You seem distracted, is all. If the coach sees you that way, she'll smack you."
As usual, the blunt statement was both funny and annoying. "I won't be distracted during practice," he growled, jaw clenching and unclenching. Kuroko only "Hmmm"ed in response and that was the extent of their conversation for the rest of the day until practice.
Sleep and a day at school put a little distance between him and the day before. Still, as he stared out of the window and watched the perfectly blue sky float past without a care, he recalled what they'd told him. Not in their exact words, but - the echoes of what they'd said.
The echoes of what they hadn't.
He tried to imagine himself in Kuroko's shoes as they had. How would he feel, in a smaller, weaker body, pushed down to the ground by someone as forceful and charismatic like Aomine? Maybe he'd felt surprised. Maybe he'd felt afraid. Maybe, despite it being what Kagami expected it'd probably been, it had even felt good at the time.
He'd thought it was strange, but not totally unusual when they said that Aomine was light as Kuroko was his shadow. Now he knew what it all meant - the twisted truth that someone like Aomine had started.
How was it that people that were such pure sportsmen, with their honed abilities clashing with Kagami's at every game, had done such a vile thing? Had continued that same tradition for so long? From what it sounded like it'd been three long years for Kuroko.
He couldn't disagree with Aomine about Kuroko being hard to read. Most of what he ever gleaned were more like feelings, or the ghosts of feelings. His words were square and clear cut, even when he was heated. Kagami couldn't read his posture or his face like he could the rest of the Generation of Miracles, including Midorima, exactly because Kuroko never wore his heart on his sleeve.
But he was also right that, in putting himself in Kuroko's shoes, he might grasp more of what his teammate - his self-proclaimed partner - had felt. And was feeling right now.
God, he was ready to run his hand through his hair until he went bald. Kise was partially right too - just what was he going to do if Kuroko brought his crush up? Was there even a crush? He held out for hope that Kise was just being a romanticist and thought he was looking at the diamond ring among the fakes, but to pull the hood over Midorima, Aomine and Murasakibara? Kagami thought it was rather impossible. All of them had been with Kuroko for too long; their ability to read their shadow player had to be on par, if not better, than Kagami's.
He remembered there'd been a tiny, wistful part of him that had wished he'd played with those amazing players when he was in junior high school too. Now he thought better; if he'd been on that team he would've been one of them, taking his goddamn turn.
He shook his head and tried to concentrate on the class. But the words blurred in front of him and he could feel Kuroko's gaze in his back, curious with that hint of knowing that he always had.
He wondered what Kuroko was thinking. Sure, in his spare time he always wondered about what Kuroko was thinking, but this time more than anything else. Was it something innocent, like wondering what his mother was going to cook for dinner? Was it about his new drive? Or was he checking out the captain's ass in front of him?
No, Kagami decided, that wasn't it. He'd never heard a single peep of desire for any one of their teammates. There had never been any preference towards anyone on the Seirin team save himself; Kuroko treated everyone else the same: like the separate limbs of one animal on the court, and with detached efficiency elsewhere.
It wasn't for lack for lookers either, though Kagami noted that with a very thin veil of consideration. The captain looked brainy, but he could be pretty cool when he played. And Kiyoshi, newly arrived and dependable, also had the kind of smile that might melt girls into a puddle on the spot. There was no one younger than Kuroko on the team but the other freshmen weren't breaking out or severely obese, so if he wanted to experiment with someone his age he only had to find someone with the same leanings, and things could easily fall into place.
But no, unless it was someone at another school, Kagami didn't think Kuroko was seeing anyone.
Was that because of what had happened before? Did this count as some kind of trauma? Was this -
"Ow!" A basketball cracked solidly over his head and he dropped to the floor like a bag of rocks, rubbing his head. Honestly, he'd lost interest once it became clear that the captain, on the other side of their little mini-game, was going to win this one.
With an icepack on his head and one hand surreptiously rubbing his spine where it'd banged against the floor, he tried not to shuffle like a guilty five-year-old as the coach literally flayed off his skin with her scolding. A glance upward revealed her eyes were like lasers, frying holes through him as easily as a spear in water. He felt like the wriggling fish pierced at the end of it.
"Just - go," she finally gave him the sign to remove himself from her presence. Breathing an inward sigh of relief, he avoided her glare and then excused himself from the rest of practice with a muttered apology. Once he was out of earshot from the gym and a good ways away from the school gates he lifted his head back and gave a deep sigh of relief.
"Are you going to tell me now?" Kuroko said suddenly from next to him and he swore, he almost jumped out of his skin.
"Don't - stop doing that!!" he yelped, pointing an accusing finger at Kuroko's face which, if he wasn't imagining things, held just the slightest hint of amusement. But it was such a straight face that any other person would've thought he was just being obtuse. He muttered mutinously under his breath and continued on his way home.
The weather had gotten a little chilly, so when he exhaled hard he could see his breath turn white for just a moment. Kuroko was walking like he usually did, with a good half-arm's length between them, not looking at him at all, just simply keeping pace with Kagami's long stride.
He had the strangest hair color, Kagami reflected again. He would say it was dyed except his eyebrows and his eyes were kind of a matching color too. After a half year he'd gotten used to seeing that blue out of the corner of his eye; it was friendly and normal now. He had a straight, if a little blunt, nose and pale skin for someone who spent the same amount of time in the outdoors PE class as everyone else. Under his school blazer and sweater Kagami knew he wasn't particularly muscled, but at least you could see the vague form of them.
No, the most interesting part about Kuroko's body wasn't his face or his muscles. It was his hands - almost lily white, with long and slender fingers and perfectly trimmed nails. The way they controlled the ball, manipulated it to exactly where it would hurt the enemy the most never failed to be a source of grudging wonder for Kagami.
He glanced up and found that amused stare being leveled at him again. "Are you done looking?" Kuroko asked lightly.
Kagami turned away, trying his hardest not to flush or otherwise give himself away. He told himself it was just appreciation of Kuroko's good skills - but deep down, he was wondering if that was a flimsy excuse for some other emotion.
"They told you, didn't they?" Kuroko added finally.
He wondered if he should play dumb, but the way Kuroko was looking at him made him think better of it. "About what happened at your junior high...yeah." If you could call being drugged and handcuffed to a park bench 'telling'.
"What do you think about it?" There was real curiosity there.
"I..." How to say what he wanted to say? "I think they never should've done it. I think you're worth much more than what they made you out to be. Whatever they said you were." He swallowed thickly, and continued, "I won't ever force you to do anything like that."
He tried not to fidget under Kuroko's stare. Finally Kuroko looked out into the distance, where the two of them could see where a train was chugging across the bridge. The sound of river flowing over the stones vibrated loudly in the silence between them. "Do you have any questions about it?" Kuroko asked.
"Why'd you keep doing it in your third year? You said - you said you'd quit the team by then."
Kuroko looked askance at him, and then away again. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began pulling his regular pair of black gloves on. "Kise was convinced that if we all continued the way we were, we'd still want to go to the same high school together. By that point I knew I didn't want that... Even if it'd been my last choice I would've never consented to the same high school as any of them...but he really believed it. And...I had hope too, that I could bring them together enough for them to stick together."
"You didn't join any other clubs?"
Kuroko smiled faintly, bitterly. "I hated basketball - but not so much I'd give it up for anything else."
It was really proof of how much he liked the sport - and it cemented Kagami's will on this whole thing too. Such a short, little body - what if it never got any taller? What if it always stayed weak? - yet there was such strength, and love there too.
Before he knew it, he was reaching out his hand. Kuroko blinked at the touch on his shoulder. They stopped there, in the middle of the path, the sound of the river running in Kagami's ears. "You really love basketball, don't you." It was a rhetorical question.
Kuroko only smiled faintly in reply.
"I'll try to be what you want." What you wished Aomine to be. "I'll shine on the court for you."
In the next moment Kuroko was reaching up, pulling him forward - and their lips were meeting. Softness against his mouth, and then Kuroko tilted his head, grip tightening on his scarf, and Kagami could feel his heart batting against the bars of his ribcage like an eagle about to take flight. He felt Kuroko breathing through his nose; he hurried to do the same. Breath mingling, Kuroko's warmth so magically close on a cold day, the petal-soft flutter of eyelashes against his cheek - he could remember he wanted to deny something, but his mind scrabbled for what.
Kuroko's eyes were blue, so blue against the pale circle of his face. He lifted his eyelashes slowly, and he was close enough so that Kagami could see his pupils were large against the iris. "I think you pretty much get what that means," Kuroko murmured in the scant space between them.
He couldn't help but swallow a bit. "Um. Can I have some time to think about it?"
"Hmm," Kuroko answered. It was one of those agreeable hmm's. Maybe Kagami was getting better at the whole deciphering Kuroko thing.
A big part of him didn't really want to move for some reason, and it seemed Kuroko was fine with the way Kagami was holding him close too. "Can I - can I have one more?" he licked his lips nervously.
Eyes amused, Kuroko only hesitated a split second before he leaned in again. This time he remembered exactly what he'd been in denial about - right before he took that preconception and threw it to the winds.
"Need more time?" Kuroko asked. His well-sucked bottom lip - and never let it be said Kagami wasn't a fast learner - was the same color as a ripe cherry. Kagami had a hard time tearing his eyes away from it.
"Don't need it," he whispered in return.
---------------
Now with a sequel here.
Fandom: Kuroko no Basket
Pairing: Kuroko/Kagami, references to GenMiracles/Kuroko
Rating: PG
Notes: written for the 31_themes on 09.16 "come and take him by his lily white hands". Direct sequel to Severely Kidnapped.
"Hey," he greeted Kuroko on their way to school.
"Hey to you," Kuroko greeted back. "What's wrong?" he added without missing a beat.
How was he going to explain this? Oh, I was just practicing in the park yesterday when your old teammates drugged me, handcuffed me to a park bench, and then proceeded to land two very big revelations on my head, one of which was that you might possibly like me?
Nah, too long. And too early in the morning.
"Why do you ask?" Is it because you're watching over your shoulder wondering if I'm going to use you too, or is it because you really care?
It seemed like Kuroko's blue eyes could see everything going on in his head. "You seem distracted, is all. If the coach sees you that way, she'll smack you."
As usual, the blunt statement was both funny and annoying. "I won't be distracted during practice," he growled, jaw clenching and unclenching. Kuroko only "Hmmm"ed in response and that was the extent of their conversation for the rest of the day until practice.
Sleep and a day at school put a little distance between him and the day before. Still, as he stared out of the window and watched the perfectly blue sky float past without a care, he recalled what they'd told him. Not in their exact words, but - the echoes of what they'd said.
The echoes of what they hadn't.
He tried to imagine himself in Kuroko's shoes as they had. How would he feel, in a smaller, weaker body, pushed down to the ground by someone as forceful and charismatic like Aomine? Maybe he'd felt surprised. Maybe he'd felt afraid. Maybe, despite it being what Kagami expected it'd probably been, it had even felt good at the time.
He'd thought it was strange, but not totally unusual when they said that Aomine was light as Kuroko was his shadow. Now he knew what it all meant - the twisted truth that someone like Aomine had started.
How was it that people that were such pure sportsmen, with their honed abilities clashing with Kagami's at every game, had done such a vile thing? Had continued that same tradition for so long? From what it sounded like it'd been three long years for Kuroko.
He couldn't disagree with Aomine about Kuroko being hard to read. Most of what he ever gleaned were more like feelings, or the ghosts of feelings. His words were square and clear cut, even when he was heated. Kagami couldn't read his posture or his face like he could the rest of the Generation of Miracles, including Midorima, exactly because Kuroko never wore his heart on his sleeve.
But he was also right that, in putting himself in Kuroko's shoes, he might grasp more of what his teammate - his self-proclaimed partner - had felt. And was feeling right now.
God, he was ready to run his hand through his hair until he went bald. Kise was partially right too - just what was he going to do if Kuroko brought his crush up? Was there even a crush? He held out for hope that Kise was just being a romanticist and thought he was looking at the diamond ring among the fakes, but to pull the hood over Midorima, Aomine and Murasakibara? Kagami thought it was rather impossible. All of them had been with Kuroko for too long; their ability to read their shadow player had to be on par, if not better, than Kagami's.
He remembered there'd been a tiny, wistful part of him that had wished he'd played with those amazing players when he was in junior high school too. Now he thought better; if he'd been on that team he would've been one of them, taking his goddamn turn.
He shook his head and tried to concentrate on the class. But the words blurred in front of him and he could feel Kuroko's gaze in his back, curious with that hint of knowing that he always had.
He wondered what Kuroko was thinking. Sure, in his spare time he always wondered about what Kuroko was thinking, but this time more than anything else. Was it something innocent, like wondering what his mother was going to cook for dinner? Was it about his new drive? Or was he checking out the captain's ass in front of him?
No, Kagami decided, that wasn't it. He'd never heard a single peep of desire for any one of their teammates. There had never been any preference towards anyone on the Seirin team save himself; Kuroko treated everyone else the same: like the separate limbs of one animal on the court, and with detached efficiency elsewhere.
It wasn't for lack for lookers either, though Kagami noted that with a very thin veil of consideration. The captain looked brainy, but he could be pretty cool when he played. And Kiyoshi, newly arrived and dependable, also had the kind of smile that might melt girls into a puddle on the spot. There was no one younger than Kuroko on the team but the other freshmen weren't breaking out or severely obese, so if he wanted to experiment with someone his age he only had to find someone with the same leanings, and things could easily fall into place.
But no, unless it was someone at another school, Kagami didn't think Kuroko was seeing anyone.
Was that because of what had happened before? Did this count as some kind of trauma? Was this -
"Ow!" A basketball cracked solidly over his head and he dropped to the floor like a bag of rocks, rubbing his head. Honestly, he'd lost interest once it became clear that the captain, on the other side of their little mini-game, was going to win this one.
With an icepack on his head and one hand surreptiously rubbing his spine where it'd banged against the floor, he tried not to shuffle like a guilty five-year-old as the coach literally flayed off his skin with her scolding. A glance upward revealed her eyes were like lasers, frying holes through him as easily as a spear in water. He felt like the wriggling fish pierced at the end of it.
"Just - go," she finally gave him the sign to remove himself from her presence. Breathing an inward sigh of relief, he avoided her glare and then excused himself from the rest of practice with a muttered apology. Once he was out of earshot from the gym and a good ways away from the school gates he lifted his head back and gave a deep sigh of relief.
"Are you going to tell me now?" Kuroko said suddenly from next to him and he swore, he almost jumped out of his skin.
"Don't - stop doing that!!" he yelped, pointing an accusing finger at Kuroko's face which, if he wasn't imagining things, held just the slightest hint of amusement. But it was such a straight face that any other person would've thought he was just being obtuse. He muttered mutinously under his breath and continued on his way home.
The weather had gotten a little chilly, so when he exhaled hard he could see his breath turn white for just a moment. Kuroko was walking like he usually did, with a good half-arm's length between them, not looking at him at all, just simply keeping pace with Kagami's long stride.
He had the strangest hair color, Kagami reflected again. He would say it was dyed except his eyebrows and his eyes were kind of a matching color too. After a half year he'd gotten used to seeing that blue out of the corner of his eye; it was friendly and normal now. He had a straight, if a little blunt, nose and pale skin for someone who spent the same amount of time in the outdoors PE class as everyone else. Under his school blazer and sweater Kagami knew he wasn't particularly muscled, but at least you could see the vague form of them.
No, the most interesting part about Kuroko's body wasn't his face or his muscles. It was his hands - almost lily white, with long and slender fingers and perfectly trimmed nails. The way they controlled the ball, manipulated it to exactly where it would hurt the enemy the most never failed to be a source of grudging wonder for Kagami.
He glanced up and found that amused stare being leveled at him again. "Are you done looking?" Kuroko asked lightly.
Kagami turned away, trying his hardest not to flush or otherwise give himself away. He told himself it was just appreciation of Kuroko's good skills - but deep down, he was wondering if that was a flimsy excuse for some other emotion.
"They told you, didn't they?" Kuroko added finally.
He wondered if he should play dumb, but the way Kuroko was looking at him made him think better of it. "About what happened at your junior high...yeah." If you could call being drugged and handcuffed to a park bench 'telling'.
"What do you think about it?" There was real curiosity there.
"I..." How to say what he wanted to say? "I think they never should've done it. I think you're worth much more than what they made you out to be. Whatever they said you were." He swallowed thickly, and continued, "I won't ever force you to do anything like that."
He tried not to fidget under Kuroko's stare. Finally Kuroko looked out into the distance, where the two of them could see where a train was chugging across the bridge. The sound of river flowing over the stones vibrated loudly in the silence between them. "Do you have any questions about it?" Kuroko asked.
"Why'd you keep doing it in your third year? You said - you said you'd quit the team by then."
Kuroko looked askance at him, and then away again. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began pulling his regular pair of black gloves on. "Kise was convinced that if we all continued the way we were, we'd still want to go to the same high school together. By that point I knew I didn't want that... Even if it'd been my last choice I would've never consented to the same high school as any of them...but he really believed it. And...I had hope too, that I could bring them together enough for them to stick together."
"You didn't join any other clubs?"
Kuroko smiled faintly, bitterly. "I hated basketball - but not so much I'd give it up for anything else."
It was really proof of how much he liked the sport - and it cemented Kagami's will on this whole thing too. Such a short, little body - what if it never got any taller? What if it always stayed weak? - yet there was such strength, and love there too.
Before he knew it, he was reaching out his hand. Kuroko blinked at the touch on his shoulder. They stopped there, in the middle of the path, the sound of the river running in Kagami's ears. "You really love basketball, don't you." It was a rhetorical question.
Kuroko only smiled faintly in reply.
"I'll try to be what you want." What you wished Aomine to be. "I'll shine on the court for you."
In the next moment Kuroko was reaching up, pulling him forward - and their lips were meeting. Softness against his mouth, and then Kuroko tilted his head, grip tightening on his scarf, and Kagami could feel his heart batting against the bars of his ribcage like an eagle about to take flight. He felt Kuroko breathing through his nose; he hurried to do the same. Breath mingling, Kuroko's warmth so magically close on a cold day, the petal-soft flutter of eyelashes against his cheek - he could remember he wanted to deny something, but his mind scrabbled for what.
Kuroko's eyes were blue, so blue against the pale circle of his face. He lifted his eyelashes slowly, and he was close enough so that Kagami could see his pupils were large against the iris. "I think you pretty much get what that means," Kuroko murmured in the scant space between them.
He couldn't help but swallow a bit. "Um. Can I have some time to think about it?"
"Hmm," Kuroko answered. It was one of those agreeable hmm's. Maybe Kagami was getting better at the whole deciphering Kuroko thing.
A big part of him didn't really want to move for some reason, and it seemed Kuroko was fine with the way Kagami was holding him close too. "Can I - can I have one more?" he licked his lips nervously.
Eyes amused, Kuroko only hesitated a split second before he leaned in again. This time he remembered exactly what he'd been in denial about - right before he took that preconception and threw it to the winds.
"Need more time?" Kuroko asked. His well-sucked bottom lip - and never let it be said Kagami wasn't a fast learner - was the same color as a ripe cherry. Kagami had a hard time tearing his eyes away from it.
"Don't need it," he whispered in return.
---------------
Now with a sequel here.