Moonlit Shadow.
One: An encounter with the Sun.
Daiki Aomine could proudly say that he was the closest friend of one expressionless and quiet Tetsuya Kuroko. Everyone admitted it, even Akashi did. And if Akashi already said something, it was bound to be right.
Being close to Tetsu was an accomplishment, and many members of Generation of Miracles had expressed their distaste in his closeness to Tetsu. Even Akashi, and if Akashi already said something, it was bound to be-
"Tetsuuuuuu!" Aomine's pondering got snapped into reality when he saw a boy with black hair and blue eyes, just a few shades darker than Tetsu's baby blue and a few shades lighter than his own navy ones, was hugging the phantom sixth man of Teikou.
Everyone's attention turned from their supposed training to the interaction between two childhood friends. As Tetsu's closest friend in Teikou, of course he'd heard of Tetsu's childhood friend Shigehiro Ogiwara. But Tetsu always spoke vaguely of him, saying that he kept in contact, previously with letters and now with texts. But childhood friends usually only exchanged small talks like 'how are you doing?' or 'I've been chosen as a regular in my team' stuff, no?
"Ogiwara-kun!"
Tetsu's response wasn't one Aomine expected. It was slight, but for people who actually heard Tetsu talk more than just a few words, they'd notice that there was a slight happiness in the otherwise emotionless sounding voice. His face lightened and a small smile made its way to Tetsu's normally blank face as the black-haired boy grinned towards him, disregarding almost everyone in the vicinity.
The Generation of Miracles all halted in their places, eyes gleaming dangerously at the stranger who dared to touch their sixth man.
"It's been 2 years since then, Tetsu!" Aomine felt somehow irritated when he called his shadow with the same name he did, but decided to stay silent to see their interaction. "You grew a little taller, didn't you? Still shorter than me, though! Do you still like those vanilla popsicles? Maaaan we have so many things to catch up to!" The kid prattled and prattled.
Aomine would have thought that Tetsu would calmly push this brat aside, claiming that he was too loud or too close or that he couldn't breathe if he kept on hugging him like that. But Tetsu didn't seem irritated or unhappy, quite the contrary, he looked comfortable and strangely content.
"You just grew faster than me, that's all." Tetsu retorted with a pout. Nobody had seen him pouting before. Whenever Tetsu decided to retort to something, it was always with him looking like he was about to puke all of his lunch to the ground. Midorima and Murasakibara could attest to that. But they'd never seen their shadow to glow with various emotions as the black-haired stranger prattled about everything and nothing at the same time.
"By the way, Ogiwara-kun, you have a rice on your cheek." Tetsu said as he stared blankly at the boy's close face. "Eh? Really? I didn't realize it! Must be from my lunch!" He laughed, irritating all the members of Generation of Miracles. "Why don't you help me with it, Tetsu?" He said as he casually leant down to Tetsu's height.
Surprisingly, their phantom sixth man rolled his eyes and sighed. "You're still as hopeless as ever, Ogiwara-kun." He said as he ate the rice grain on the kid's face, kissing his cheek. "Aw c'mon, Tetsu! You're so stiff now! Don't you remember when you used to call me Nii-chan all the time?"
"That was because Ogiwara-kun said that you are older than me by a few months."
"You were cute back then, though. Not that you're not cute now." They bumped their foreheads before smiling to each other. Grinning for the kid, and a real smile for Tetsu.
Aomine felt... jealous.
Even he, the closest person to Tetsu had never seen him like that before. The two boys then continued to catch up at their lost time together, leaving their respective teams behind. But if the brat's team looked like they were amused with their friend's reunion, all the Teikou regulars were seething venom.
"Teikou, gather!" Nijimura hollered, making everyone return to their benches. All safe for their phantom.
He seemed too caught up to even realize that they were being called. His baby blue gaze were set on Ogiwara's cheerful sky-blue ones as they laughed at their old memories together. Aomine clicked his tongue.
"Daiki," Aomine turned at the sharp tone of Akashi's call. "Get Tetsuya, we are starting the meeting." If this wasn't in the middle of practice, Aomine was sure that Akashi would have borrowed Midorima's scissors just to jab that kid on the eye.
Aomine sighed, but obeyed anyway as he drew closer to the pair, who didn't seem to notice him at all.
But when he was actually only a few meters away from them, the brat- Ogiwara, raised his eyebrows in question. "It seems that a teammate of yours is here, Tetsu." He said, nearly whispering to Tetsu's ear. Tetsu nodded, blank as ever.
"Ah, Aomine-kun," he then looked towards the court that the Teikou members were using for practice to find them deserted. "I'm sorry, I seem to have not noticed. Are they calling a meeting right now?"
"Yeah, Akashi's pissed so you better hurry."
Tetsu nodded, but then he looked towards his childhood friend with a silent 'I-don't-want-to-part-just-yet' stare. Ogiwara laughed. "It's okay, Tetsu! Now that I'm in Tokyo, we can always see each other again, right? How about we go out after practice? I wanna show you this awesome new burgers called Maji!"
Tetsu nodded with a grateful smile on his face. Aomine blanched. The Generation of Miracles often hung out in the convenience store after practice, after all! Did Tetsu actually forget that?
"Oh! Where are my manners!" Ogiwara then slapped himself on the forehead before finally meeting Aomine's eyes for the first time. "The infamous Aomine-kun, right? I've heard lots about you!" There was a devious smirk there, but Tetsu didn't seem to realize it. This prick-
"Yeah, I'm Aomine," he said as he took the offered hand. "Tetsu's light." For people who didn't understand Tetsu's peculiar sense of wording, introducing himself as someone's light would have sound absolutely ridiculous, but Ogiwara seemed to caught it just fine.
"Of course I know that you're his light, I know everything about Tetsu, after all!" He said with a thousand-watt smile that even made Kise's smile pale in comparison. But then he glanced at Tetsu before adding in a low whisper. "Of course, I also know everything about Tetsu's wonderful friend."
Aomine gripped the kid's hand tighter, as if taking the challenge.
"And by the way, I'm Shigehiro Ogiwara," another annoyingly bright smile was sent his way before it transformed into a huge grin. "Tetsu's sun."
Sun?
"Do you still remember about that one, Tetsu? What you said to me after we nearly puked after playing too much?" Ogiwara let go of his hand before lazily draping his hands across Tetsu's shoulders. The sixth man phantom smiled sincerely towards the black-haired kid before his eyes met with Aomine's. "I'll always be the moon to Ogiwara-niichan's sun. That's what I said before, right?"
There was it again! That confident smirk that he'd send to Aomine when Tetsu wasn't looking. What a bastard!
"Ooooi Shige! We're going back now!"
A sudden call from the brat's teammates shattered the imminent silence between the three of them. Ogiwara then sighed. "Geez, I have to go back now. But I'll see you later, okay?" There was a kiss on the cheek before Ogiwara waved a goodbye to the sixth man phantom of Teikou.
"Tetsu... are you, you know...?" Tetsu then stared at him blankly, an unspoken question of 'what...?' hung in the air between them. "Why are you comfortable with being so chummy with you know, a guy?" Aomine asked. And there was an even more confusing question like why am I bothered that Tetsu is being chummy with another guy? inside his head.
Tetsu giggled softly, almost inaudibly.
"Silly Aomine-kun," he said as he walked towards the Teikou's bench, Aomine then walked beside him. "Ogiwara-kun is Ogiwara-kun, after all."
This statement and a small smile on Tetsu's face confused the hell out of Aomine. What did that mean exactly?
In the next chapter, the Generation of Miracles found themselves sitting on the farthest corner of Maji Burgers, trying their best not to break anything as they watch their silent phantom being absolutely adorable with a stranger.
I am a fervent shipper of OgiKuro now. Reading 214 and 215 makes me want to squee at how cute he is and stuff! So I must write this. Must. Must. Must!