"What do you mean a new partner?" Aomine asked grumpily from the manager in a lavish office. "What's going on with Momoi?"
"Your current partner, Momoi, will be unavailable for the next few months, so we made arrangements to replace the second member of the blue unit."
"Eeeh? Momoi is unavailable?" Aomine lifted his gaze lazily towards the ceiling and leaned back in his chair.
"Personal reasons," the manager replied dryly.
"Can't I team up with any of the other colored agents?"
"You can't. Yellow, green, purple and red units are all on missions." The manager glanced at Aomine with an irritated look in his eyes. Then he returned to the file on the table in front of him and pushed it towards Aomine.
Aomine grabbed the file. The picture of his new partner was on the first page.
"This kid?" he asked. "What is he? Fifteen?"
The manager snorted and fixed his glasses. "Kuroko Tetsuya graduated recently from the academy. His skills are well fitted with your following mission. You should not worry."
"Kuroko Tetsuya, huh…" Aomine repeated the name and eyed the file. "Well, whatever… As long as he doesn't slow me down."
#
The mission was the kind Aomine hated most - a stake-out mission. And it was going to be a long one. Their target, retired Yakuza leader Hikitani Nobuo, was known for his extremely low profile and well-guarded surroundings. Gathering information of him was literally a pain in the ass with all the sitting and waiting. Moreover, the dude was retired so there wasn't much information or movement in the first place. Most likely the old-timer just spent his days sitting on the side of his pool watching pretty girls in bikinis… Aomine wasn't sure what the intelligence agency wanted from the man, but he had no choice but to follow the orders. It was bothersome, but it was orders.
I just wish I could've done this with Momoi… The bitch is annoying, but at least I'm used to spending time with her. Having to do the mission with a freshly graduated newbie who looked like a high schooler and probably act like all those other annoying overly motivated new agents really crowned everything. The god of stake-outs hates me, Aomine thought and closed his eyes. Where was that newbie agent anyway? It was already past the time they were supposed to meet and go through the details of their mission.
"Should we start already?" asked a quiet voice that came from somewhere very close.
Aomine shot his eyes open and saw the young agent from the picture sitting across the table.
"Where the hell did you appear from?" he shouted but Kuroko didn't even wince at his raised voice.
"I was here before you," he replied calmly.
"What?" Aomine couldn't believe his ears. He hadn't notice anyone in the conference room when he had stepped in.
"I was here before you. Should we now start going through the mission?"
"Yeah… sure. I'm Aomine. Aomine Daiki."
"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. Good to meet you, partner."
Aomine stared at his new partner. What was going on with the kid? He had never seen anyone with so little presence. At first sight, Kuroko seemed weak as hell – his build was small and his combat abilities most likely pretty limited if he didn't possess some kind of crazy ninja fighting skills. The small smile on his lips was gentle and made him look like a weakling who would submit to anything and Aomine didn't respect weaklings. But how the hell had he not seen Kuroko in the room? And why on earth he seemed to have troubles remembering that Kuroko was in the room even now?
#
"So… " Aomine started when they were sitting in a tiny apartment that was close to the summer house of Hikitani Nobuo. The one room they shared was filled with electronic devices: Wiretaps, radios and laptops. This was going to be the headquarters of their operation for the next weeks. The apartment was very modest, but it was the only apartment they had been able to access close enough to their target. Aomine sighed. The god of stake-outs truly liked to kick him in the head. Was he really supposed to spend the next months in this craphole with that weirdo kid?
"So… We have to bug the big guy's house if we want to get anything out from this, but it's not going to be a walk in the park. There are two guards on every door and we can't take them out if we want to operate silently."
Kuroko eyed around the room and gathered various equipment into a large bag. "Just give me one hour," he said and walked out of the door with the bag in his hand.
After exactly one hour Aomine heard the door open and saw Kuroko return.
"It's done."
"What do you mean it's done?" Aomine asked confusedly.
"Tapping of the house, it's done."
"What? How did you?" Aomine couldn't hide his shock. "It's broad daylight, god dammit! How did you get pass the guards?"
"I just walked by them. They didn't notice me."
Aomine couldn't do anything but stare at his new partner.
"It's my special skill," Kuroko continued with his quiet and serious voice. "My lack of presence."
"Your lack of presence?"
"Yes. People don't notice me."
"Is that even possible? You walked pass the guards because they didn't notice you? You tapped the whole house in broad daylight, walked in and out and nobody noticed you?"
"Exactly."
So this is the special skill that fits well our mission. Who would have thought… Aomine glanced at Kuroko and realized that he didn't seem like the same person anymore. What had changed? Just one hour ago he had looked at Kuroko and seen a weakling high schooler but now he saw… he wasn't sure what, but it wasn't so weak anymore. He recognized a new feeling towards his partner and it was slight respect.
#
Aomine was completely out of breath and covered in sweat when he burst into their apartment. After his morning jog, e always was. The stake-out was so boring that jogging was the only way to maintain his sanity in this tiny apartment.
"Yo, Tetsu!" he greeted as he took his shirt of and threw it to the corner.
Kuroko lifted his gaze up from his computer screen and removed his headphones. When he saw Aomine's toned upper body glistening with sweat, his gaze froze for a brief moment and his lips came ever so lightly apart with a sharp inhale. It was a very short moment but Aomine's trained eyes didn't miss it. He turned around slightly embarrassedly at the same moment when Kuroko averted his eyes.
"Aomine-kun, could you please not throw your clothes on the floor," Kuroko said. There was nothing unusual in his voice. "This apartment is small enough even without your disarray."
"My bad, my bad…" Aomine said and went to pick up his wet shirt. Kuroko's eyes were glued back to the computer screen in front of him. Am I imagining things or does he look slightly flushed? Aomine shook his head for his thoughts but he couldn't stop his mind when it returned back to the file he had received the day when he had met his new partner. What had the file said about relationships? Had the kid ever had a girlfriend?
#
"Aomine-kun, you should know that I'm not very competent with guns," Kuroko said when Aomine shoved a pistol in his hand.
"But you've graduated from the academy? You can't be that bad."
"I think I survived the urban warfare trills only because nobody ever noticed me…" Kuroko's large eyes were apologetic when he looked up at Aomine.
I hate it when he looks at me like that. Especially at times like this when I'm supposed to be annoyed but instead I just want to cheer him up.
"Well, then we just hope your good luck continues and you'll stay under the radar. I'll be the guns and you can do your ninja magic sneaking in."
"Thanks, Aomine-kun," Kuroko said with a relieved voice. "I'm really happy that you are my partner."
The trusting, puppy eyed look in Kuroko's eyes was too much for Aomine who quickly averted his gaze. Why did the kid say such embarrassing things so casually? And why the hell does my chest feel so warm?
After a tiresome three weeks stake-out, the target's house was finally empty for one evening and thanks to their relentless work they now had a vague idea of the papers they were looking for. Most of the security would be gone with Hikitani Nobuo so this was their chance to search the house. This was the first time Aomine and Kuroko would execute an armed operation together and after Kuroko's confession, Aomine was feeling slightly nervous. When he was alone, he never felt nervous. After all, he knew that with his level of fighting skills he was practically unstoppable. He had been primus of his class in both short-range firearms and hand to hand combat and ever since graduation he had received challenging missions all around the world. So if he had been alone, few guards, however competent, would have placed absolutely no challenge to him. But today he was working with Kuroko and it made him nervous.
If he falls behind, just leave him… a voice in Aomine's head said. It's not your responsibility to babysit an incompetent high school kid who only slows you down. But Aomine knew that under no circumstances he would leave Kuroko behind. Aomine had the strangest feeling that he had the responsibility for this kid and that if he was to betray Kuroko's trust, those large sad puppy eyes would hunt him forever.
#
Aomine stilled when he heard a gunshot in the empty house. It wasn't the pistol he had given to Kuroko – the sound was too low. Aomine rushed towards the sound. Their operation had failed miserably when an unexpectedly observant guard had spotted Kuroko. Aomine had taken out the guards hastily, it had posed no problems, and Kuroko had continued the operation. But apparently there had been one more security guard.
Aomine burst into a large room when he heard a second gunshot. This time it was familiar. Kuroko. He saw immediately what was going on. Kuroko was cornered behind a large desk – my gosh how small and fragile he looks – and a large man in a black suit was pointing a gun at him. Kuroko had the pistol he had given him in his shaking hand. Aomine saw blood in the guard's cheek. Even from the close distance, the bullet had only graced the guard.
The guard began to move his finger on the trigger when Aomine moved. He swiftly kicked the gun away from the guard's hand and stunned him with two well-aimed blows. Then he turned to Kuroko. Only now he noticed a thick folder of papers in Kuroko's left hand.
"Are you hurt?" he asked before he saw the blood spreading around Kuroko's left shoulder.
"A little," Kuroko answered and tried to get on his feet shaking feet. "I found the papers, Aomine-kun," he said and tried to hand the papers to Aomine, but his hand didn't cooperate. Instead he winced in pain and the folder fell on the floor.
"There, there… Aren't you a tough guy, Tetsu," Aomine said before lifting Kuroko on his back and taking the papers from the ground. Even after spending so much time together with Kuroko, Aomine was genuinely surprised by how small and light his body on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for the mess," Kuroko said silently before his eyes closed.
"Neh, it was good work, Tetsu. You did good. I was only glad to get some action. I've been sitting on my ass way too long," Aomine chatted gently and laughed a little. "But god dammit you truly are terrible with guns!"
#
"Thanks for saving my life," Kuroko said the moment he saw Aomine in his hospital room. His shoulder was now patched up and a gentle smile had reappeared on his lips.
"It was nothing, it was nothing," Aomine quickly said. Something in the way Kuroko looked at him made his cheeks burn.
"No, it's important," Kuroko said with a serious tone. "You saved my life, Daiki. Thank you."
Aomine looked at Kuroko in surprise. Kuroko had never before called him by his first name. It felt strange, but it felt… good.
"You're welcome, Tetsu."
A sudden whim made Aomine step up to the side of the hospital bed. Kuroko's eyes followed him, trusting and expectant. The warmness inside Aomine's chest was growing. Tetsu is right. It is important. It is important because I don't know what I would do if you wouldn't be here with me anymore. It was incredible how comfortable Aomine felt when he slowly lowered himself towards Kuroko. It was incredible how perfectly their lips seemed to match when Aomine pressed his mouth gently on Kuroko's lips even though it was the first time they kissed. And it was incredible how good it felt to see a smile on Kuroko's face and hear the words:
"I thought you would never do that."
AN: Some works related to this one have been posted to AO3. Short sequel /works/3924847