DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroko no Basket.

WARNING: Language.

Rating: T

For Irej, who has always been there when I have needed to vent feelings or simply fangirl. Happy Birthday!

This one's completely AU— Kagami x Aomine in an all-boys boarding school.

Monsters in the Dark

Kagami couldn't sleep. No matter how hard he tried, his eyelids wouldn't stay closed, his heartbeat wouldn't slow, and he wouldn't stop seeing monsters lurk within the darkness. He tried counting by fives, eyes squeezed shut. He tried humming the lullaby his mother used to sing to him when she was still alive. He tried thinking about all the things that he loved, all the things that made him want to keep breathing. He could think of nothing.

He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be home, in the confines of his room, a twelve-year-old boy doing twelve-year-old things. He wanted to breathe for once without having to dodge another one of his father's badly-aimed empty (or sometimes not-so-empty) beer bottles, without cleaning up fresh wounds running up and down his arms, bruises where his father had gripped him too hard. He wanted to be in his own bed, with his mother beside him, not in some rickety old cot at some boy's school where they slapped the palm of your hand with a ruler if you chuckled at a bad joke in class.

He shuddered, and closed his eyes again. But it made the world darker, more frightening, so his eyelids snapped open once more. And he gasped when he saw yet another pair of eyes, so close he could almost feel the thing's breath on his face.

The eyes blinked at him.

"You still awake, huh?"

This monster could talk. Kagami sat up slightly, amazed. They had never tried to communicate with him before. He opened his mouth, closed it again. Didn't know what to say.

"So, you gonna move over or what, dumbass?"

This time he moved. He inched backwards so there was more room on the bed, and when the creature crawled in beside him he realized it was not a creature at all, but someone just like him, only with darker skin and the prettiest blue hair.

"I can't sleep either," the boy said. It seemed he didn't need a response from Kagami at all. He turned a navy blue gaze his way. "You wanna know why?"

Kagami cleared his throat. "Why?" He said. It came out a whisper.

The boy grinned. "Because night time is best of all."

"No it isn't." The words had just tumbled out of him. He bit his lip, realizing that he was lucky someone was talking to him at all, that he couldn't blow it this time. He had arrived two months ago and yet not a single person had ever greeted him in the morning.

"Hey, you're the kid who got everyone three hours of detention, didn't you? For skipping class?"

Oh no. He knew. Kagami felt his face grow red. "Yeah, so?"

"Man, that is awesome."

Kagami's heart lifted. "It is?"

The boy nodded, hair scratching against the single pillow. "Hell yeah it is. What's your name?"

The redhead paused. "Taiga," he said slowly, carefully. He waited for jeering laughter. Instead he was met with another brilliant smile.

"Daiki."

Kagami shifted so that he was looking at the ceiling. "I hate the night," he murmured. He wasn't sure why he was still speaking, why he wanted to spill every thought that had ever occurred to him into the ears of this boy who was probably only here because he was bored, and nothing else.

Daiki didn't respond to Kagami's confession. Instead he said, "so who sent you here?"

"What if I told you I came here myself?"

Daiki scoffed. "You didn't come here by himself. Unless you're stupid." He looked at him, long, hard, calculating.

Kagami wasn't stupid. He sighed. "My dad."

"My uncle's a piece of shit, too."

Kagami cringed. He had never been allowed to say words like that. It always led to yelling, to things being thrown at him from across the kitchen counter.

"So why are you afraid of the dark?" This boy was just brimming with questions. Kagami exhaled softly.

"Because of the monsters."

Daiki didn't answer. Kagami was stupid. He was old enough, he knew there were no monsters. He knew he was just staring at shadows on walls, at things oddly put together. He knew. It wasn't his fault he saw them.

Suddenly, fingers grazed against his hands. He jumped slightly but stilled, realizing it was only Daiki, who was suddenly closer, warmer. He didn't even have to turn his head to see Daiki's eyes, looking directly at him and only at him, as if the two of them were alone in the world.

"I'll protect you," Daiki said, beaming up at him once more like the brightest ray of light.

"Why?" This time he had meant to ask. Because he didn't understand. Because he had only seen Daiki from afar, bouncing on the balls of his feet, making people laugh, getting into fights with the older boys who had been here much longer. He had only hoped to be as brave. He just rushed into things and always ended with black eyes.

Daiki chuckled, a nice sound. "Because you're stupid."

Kagami tried to pull his hand away, but Daiki was holding on too hard. He had more to say.

"And I like you, dumbass."

As aforementioned, these will range from cute moments like these to melting hot to extremely depressing. You have been warned.

This is my first Aomine x Kagami. All criticism is welcome.

~DestinyCrusader