The slow, ominous tick tock of the clock was incredibly loud throughout Kagami's warm, empty apartment.
He'd glanced up at the clock so often he was beginning to worry about OCD or tourrettes, and the only result of this countless, restless checking was a dull lump of boredom settling in his chest, restless despair, and depressing thoughts that featured oh god why, and, is it still night?, and occasionally, what year is this?
Throwing his head back on to the shiny leather couch, Kagami groaned out loud and began to wonder if this could be classified as some sort of disease.
Jelly legs, quickened breathing, trembling, complete inability to sleep, eat, move, breathe, feelings of restlessness and boredom, urges to run around and yell at the top of his voice, throw up or faint, these were all apparent symptoms of some horrific illness Kagami had likely contracted. There were beads of perspiration rolling down his face just from thinking.
Well okay, maybe not quite beads of perspiration, but this was definitely a sickness, gods sake he was sweating and he couldn't fathom the idea of going near the bedroom or lying down or trying to, ugh, sleep.
This horrible disease happened pretty often, and always at night, on certain nights, and he knew exactly why it happened, and why it was happening now.
Kagami Taiga had a basketball game to play tommorow.
And not just any basketball game, this was the game, the game he'd been waiting so long for.
The game against Touou academy, against Aomine Daiki.
This was the second time they would play.
The first time was one of the most difficult and despairing games that Kagami had ever played in. They had lost, and it had been horrendous.
Kagami remembered it in flashes sometimes, when he was at his lowest. It brought him back up, it made him burn and twist and god, he never wanted to lose again. He remembered the defeat plastered across his teammates faces, across Kuroko's face.
He'd never seen that much expression leak through Kuroko's blank eyes, never seen that much anguish flash desperately throughout his body. Trembling hands, wide, desperate eyes, a tug at his mouth that pulled his normally gentle, placid smile south, bitter lips pressed together in a firm line. Kuroko was a man of little words, and few expressions, but to Kagami, as long as you watched him close enough, you could read him like an open book.
Kagami was going to win tommorow.
He was going to win, he was pumped, full of fire, and energy and oh god it was only 10pm.
Shit, this endless evening was worse than the day Kuroko had dragged him on a 'walk'.
Kuroko had invited him out spontaneously on a walk one weekend over email.
This had left Kagami feeling weirdly excited, until Kuroko had produced Nigou.
The dog had ruined everything! That day was hell, as hellish as this long, empty evening was going to be.
But whatever.
Maybe he should watch some NBA? He'd recorded that game between the Spurs and the Nets.
No, he'd tried that before, he'd watched a Lakers game in a futile effort to coax his stupid body into sleep the night before they'd played Kaijo, and after seeing Derek Anderson slam dunk into the net for the fourth time, Kagami had been outside warming up with a ball in his hands, a grin plastered on his face, and a body full of excitement and energy.
In his pyjamas.
At two in the morning.
With a worried and somewhat distressed audience of an old man and his wife who led him out of the court and offered to call his house/mental hospital for him.
He did NOT want a repeat of that.
Dragging his laptop across the sofa (it was hot to the touch from him forgetting it had a power switch) he lolled back on the cushions and opened up google.
how to sleep
No, he wasn't sure that would have great results.
how to sleep before basketball games
Better, but he was sure that there wouldn't be accurate enough methods for such an extreme case such as the night before a match against Touou.
how to sleep if you arent tired
That should do.
Adverts from bed companies, a kitten video, hipster song lyrics... it got worse as he scrolled down.
Huffing in exasperation, he sternly ignored the desire within him to click on the kitten video link (it doesn't matter how cute they are, you must act tough if you want to face off against Aomine goddamit), and finally came across a link to a wikiAsk page which apparently had a list of options to help you reach the land of nod.
Counting sheep never helped, Kagami hated warm milk, he wasn't scared of the dark, he'd already had a bath, and god, the very idea of reading at the moment induced head pains.
Kagami drew up a mental list of the leftover suggestions.
1. Watch a movie.
2. Midnight baking.
3. Talk to a friend until you're tired out.
4. Go for a walk
Sighing, he decided to start with the first option, so he heaved himself off the couch and knelt down with a thump on the cold, hard wooden ground beside his bookcase.
He flicked through the minimal shelf of DVDs he owned, and realised he only owned basketball related films, Air Buddies, and Korean romcoms.
Alex's, obviously.
Ok, so that was out.
He sighed and got up, trudging towards the kitchen. He didn't even feel like baking though, why was this going to help him sleep?
The kitchen was cold, and dark and it only made Kagami feel more awake, as he measured out flour into a bowl.
What kind of cake should he make? Wait, who was going to eat the cake? He wasn't much of a cake person himself.
Plus, it was eerily queit in the apartment. The scrape of the bowl and soft whump of the flour hitting the sides seemed louder than normal, and the window opposite him seemed to loom over the entire room, filling the artificially lit space with darkness.
"Ok. Ok, I'm not scared this is just too queit. Yup, just way.. too queit."
He could put on some music, or invite someone around...
Aha!
Talk to a friend! He could call one over! And, he could meet them from the station and walk them back! And then BAKE A CAKE!
Hell, he could even ask them to rent a DVD on the way.
Genius. Four hoops with one ball. He was pretty sure even Riko or that creepy Midorima couldn't formulate a plan as good as this, and they were the smartest people Kagami knew.
He'd dialled Kuroko's number (he knew it by memory for emergency reasons, obviously) and hit call before he'd even realised how strange it was to call someone up the night before an important game to get them to take a train over half the city to bake a cake, and maybe watch a DVD.
Oh god.
"Hang up, hang up, hang up oh god" he whispered furiously, finger about to hit the End Call button.
"Are you sure? You were the one who rang me after all."
"Gah!"
"Hello, Kagami-kun"
"Um! Kuroko! Hey."
"... was there a reason you rang me at-"
"Yes! Uh, its just, I don't have any DVDs, and I can't watch NBA, and it's too queit and doyouwannabakeacakewithme?"
"..."
"Shit no hang on thats not what I meant! It's just I think I have a disease-"
"Kagami-kun is ill?"
"No! Well, I don't know, it might be tourrettes, or just the clock, but I looked it up and it said I should drink milk but I hate milk and I always lose count of the sheep, and all my DVDs are Korean romcoms or basketball films, so I thought I'd bake but I need to talk to someone and I don't know where to walk and..."
"You can't sleep."
"Uh... yeah, I can't sleep."
Kagami could tell from the mirthful tone of Kuroko's voice that he was wearing that expression right now, the one with the gentle, teasing grin and bright, happy eyes and hint of a blush staining his ears.
Damn, he could stare at Kuroko all day when he looked like that.
Shit that was really gay.
"No homo!" Kagami blurted aloud.
"Uh, I'm not sure-"
"Ah crap! I didn't mean you! I was just thinking out loud! Oh god. Y'know what Kuroko I blame you for this over thinking stuff and baking! Dammit! Ok, I'm gonna hang up now."
"I can come over, if you want."
"What? Now? Seriously?"
"...You woke me up and I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep now, so yes, now, seriously. I can even bring a Japanese, non basketball related film."
"Kuroko, I'm sorry for every time I thought you were just a queit midget who -"
"I'll get the train over in ten minutes."
Kagami sighed in relief before realising Kuroko was doing that i-need-to-speak-but-I'm-not-going-to thing.
"Kuroko?"
"...Kagami-kun, how would I get from the station to your flat?"
"Ah! I'll pick you up. From the station."
"Yes, then I'll see you then."
The ending tone sounded, and Kagami was left standing in the middle of his living room, a stupid grin plastered all over his face.
Kagami allowed himself one more glance at the clock before tugging on shoes and half running, half dancing, left the flat. It was nearly half ten, and it was dark and freezing. Hypothermia might not be the best thing to contract the night before a Touou match, and what would Riko say?
"Shit, I'm sure I own a scarf or a coat or something..."
Ten minutes later, he was walking down under the pale yellow glow of the streetlights, a red scarf tugged up around his neck, down towards the station.
It was so dark, the stars looked as if they were going to pop out of the sky and plummet down towards the earth.
Kagami froze in his tracks.
Kuroko was travelling alone at half ten at night, on a train, by himself, in the dark alone, late at night, with no one else, (with every worrying thought that attacked his mind, Kagami sped up, pounding into the street, until he eventually broke into a run) defenseless and small and weak and oh god this was all Kagami's fault, what if some creepy guy or a train crash or a bomb or shit what if Kuroko's organs were harvested, crap this was all his fault shit shit shit
"Bakagami?!"
What
What... was that...
"Ahomine?!"
"Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun, good evening."
"Tetsu?!"
"Kuroko!"
Kagami spun round to face Kuroko, who was clutching a bag that held DVD shaped items. And thank god, all organs were intact. Now to deal with the problem. The Aomine. He meant Aomine.
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Oh, Mai-chan released a new album and I was just- wait never mind that, why are you here? And Tetsu?!"
"Kagami-kun asked me to bake a cake with him."
Aomine's eyes grew as wide as the stars overhead as Kagami whirled round to slap a hand over Kuroko's mouth.
Shit he was touching Kuroko's lips, shit shit shit
"Dammit Kuroko!"
"A ca- wait what? Kagami don't tell me you-"
Kagami could guess what was going to follow by the grin and the slant of the eyebrows, so he changed gear and slapped the other hand over Aomine's mouth, releasing Kuroko.
Aomine broke away, and burst out laughing.
His face, Kagami guessed, was probably 300 shades of red at the moment, so he thought of the best excuse he could and stuttered out a retort.
"Aaah! Shuttup no, I just couldn't sleep! I was... mentally preparing myself to kick your ass tommorow!"
"By...baking with Tetsu..."
Aomine sniggered and Kagami felt his ears catch fire.
"Yeah! So uh, if that's all, see ya, Ahomine!"
"Yeah, if Tetsu isn't too sore to play to- OOF"
A punch to the mouth for Aomine, and Kagami grabbed Kuroko's hand and fled.
"Oi BAKAGAMI! You're a dead man tommorow, ya hear me!"
Shit, this night was not going to plan. He slowed as they reached near his street.
"Kagami-kun."
"Huh?"
"You're kind of... crushing my hand."
"Gah!"
Heart pounding, mind racing, Kagami let go as if Kuroko had burned him, and they began walking towards his apartment.
"I couldn't sleep."
"I... gathered that much, yes."
"That's why I invited you over."
"Yes."
"Not - not for anything else."
"Yes."
Kagami glanced down at the boy beside him and saw a huge smile over Kuroko's face, his pale blue eyes looked almost silver in the gloaming, and his neck looked really soft and pale, it should be a crime having such a soft looking neck. His ears and cheeks were stained pale pink.
Probably with cold.
Urgh, definitely with the cold, Kuroko was shivering like a newly-shaved poodle.
Kuroko's expression changed to one of shock as Kagami wrapped the red woollen scarf around his neck.
"Ka-"
"Shut up, I just don't want you getting ill with that ridicoulously weak body of yours. Coach'll kill me."
Since when had he acted so mother-hen over Kuroko? But it was worth it, Kagami had never seen such a grin on Kuroko's face, and the pink spots on his ears and cheeks had grown darker.
"It smells like Kagami-kun.."
"Gah! How can you say such embarassing things!"
They reached the apartment, and Kagami fumbled with his keys, and he dropped them, and Kuroko picked them up, and shit this had to be a scene from a Korean romcom, not that Kagami had seen any, just because Alex liked them.
They made their way into the kitchen, chatting about NBA players (Kuroko, thank god, was a Lakers fan, but was also sadly a fan of the Brooklyn Nets. Kagami was more of a Spurs fan, but he tended to root for the Nets in any other circumstance), the new training regime ("I think Hyuuga likes Coach's sadistic side, that's why he lets her force us into hell every practice." "I agree that he's probably masochistic, but that's taking it too far.") and how Kagami was slowly, but surely, adjusting to Nigou (It's only cause he's been round to my flat so many times. It's amazing your parents drive you all the way here with him every weekend." "They know how much Kagami-kun secrectly loves Nigou." "Wait what?!").
Before Kagami knew it, they were baking, and his apartment was warm and full and loud and Kuroko was trying to measure out flour.
The bag had other ideas, and with a small explosion, burst open too quickly, sending the whole lot into the mixing bowl, and causing a small cloud to drift up and settle on Kuroko's nose.
Kagami burst out laughing.
"Pffft! You look ridicolous!"
Kuroko huffed and shoved him, and Kagami's elbow landed in the butter.
It was war.
Kuroko took a buttery elbow to the chest, and Kagami's hair got a dusting of flour, before the jug of milk slipped out of grasp and crashed to the ground.
Kagami sighed and smiled. "No use crying over spilled milk, moron." he smirked, ruffling Kuroko's hair.
"Kagami-kun is going to get my hair greasy."
"Ah shuttup. Help me clean this up."
Half an hour later, there was some sort of jazz music playing through the radio ("We need background music, Kagami-kun"), a cake in the oven (eggshells may or may not be incuded) the TV was on, and Kuroko was checking the weather.
It was quarter to twelve.
"Are your parents home?"
"No, they're away for a business trip for two weeks."
"You can stay here."
"For tonight? For two weeks?" Kuroko looked confused and sort of maybe happy. Hopefully.
"Ah, I don't care, whatever. I - I might not be able to sleep again. You might as well."
"I'll have to stay here for tonight."
"Hnn."
Kuroko got up and rummaged through the bag he'd brought, and pulled out a DVD.
Kagami visibly paled.
"A - a horror movie?"
"You said non basketball related. Is Kagami-kun scared?"
Kuroko was teasing him, the damn bastard!
"No! I - I'll put it on."
Kagami didn't even glance at the name of the disk as he shoved it into the DVD player and settled on the couch.
Five minutes into the movie, and Kagami was clutching at the cushion on his lap for dear life.
"No! Nope, I'm out. I - There's a game tommorow! We should watch some basketball!"
"I thought you said-"
"I - I'm gonna go check on the cake!"
Kagami heard the familiar American voices blast through the speakers in the living room as he took the cake out of the oven and he sighed in relief. Thank god, nothing could scare him now, he was safe, dog-free, horror movie-free-
"Kagami-kun."
"Gah! God, Stop appearing like that!"
Kuroko smiled and walked over to the cake on the counter.
"Hmm, it doesn't look poisoned."
"Well of course not, I helped make it."
"Do you recognise this song Kagami-kun?"
A soft, slow, jazz song trickled softly from the radio, a cacophony of gentle noise.
"It's a waltz."
"Yeah, I knew that. I danced to this back in preschool in America."
"...Kagami-kun can dance?"
"What's that supposed to mean?! Of course I can!"
"I don't believe you, Kagami-kun is far too clumsy to-"
Kagami had a hand on Kuroko's waist and another hand clutching Kuroko's before he could think, red cheeks glowing in the dull kitchen light.
"Oh."
Kuroko closed his eyes, so Kagami thought about closing his too, but then he couldn't see the serene expression flood across Kuoko's face, couldn't angle himself so that he was almost clutching Kuroko to his chest.
Kuroko's skin seemed to glow, and it seemed right for Kagami to drop his face into Kuroko's hair, and close his eyes, inhaling Kuroko's smell, his very essence.
He smelled of a lemony shampoo, and of butter, with a hint of some sort of vanilla scent.
For a minute, or maybe it was an hour, they stood swaying in the kitchen, to the soft jazz from the radio, the gentle sound of basketball from next door, and Kagami's heart would. not. stop. racing.
The song faded, and Kuroko pulled away and smiled.
"I believe Kagami-kun now."
"Yeah." Kagami smiled back, and thought about how this was when he should kiss Kuroko.
The blare of the TV seemed louder though, and Kuroko pulled him next door onto the couch, where they sat, hands still interwined, just side by side.
The second quarter had started, and the spurs were in the lead.
Kagami's eyelids felt heavy.
All the lights were on, and the radio and the TV was on, and it was midnight.
It seemed right to pull Kuroko onto his shoulder when he yawned, and to run a hand through impossibly soft blue locks.
The nets caught up, and it was half time. Kagami yawned again, and sort of fell and ended up kind of lying on the couch, Kuroko now stretched out in front of him, Kagami's head just above and behind his, propped up on one shoulder.
It seemed right to sort of kind of maybe spoon Kuroko, and to keep holding his hand.
The third quarter came and went, with the nets leading.
Kuroko's breathing was beginning to slow, and Kagami felt fatigue wash over him in a wave.
The spurs however, pulled back, and with Duncan slam dunking all over the place, pulled back into the game, and won, ending the game.
Kagami felt exhausted. Kuroko looked half asleep underneath him.
Time seemed to kind of slow a little as Kagami kind of fell forward, lips landing on Kuroko's, and they were soft, and pliant and warm.
Kuroko wound slim arms around Kagami's neck, and they kissed, again, and once more, and then again.
And then Kagami realised what he was doing.
"Oh god I'm so sorry it's just you-well-i might like you? Actually I definitely like you. Except shit I'm sorry I'm just really dumb and you-"
"Kagami-kun."
Kuroko grinned lazily, rubbing circles on the base of Kagami's neck, and he pulled Kagami down behind him, so they were spooning agin, and locked their fingers again together once more.
"Stop thinking. Think in the morning. You'll break your brain. And if you hadn't noticed, I like you too. So just...go to sleep Kagami-kun."
Kagami breathed and then forgot how to and then half choked.
He breathed again.
"Okay."
As he fell asleep, Kagami thought of the cake, uneaten, the useless DVDs, the Aomine-infected walk, and Kuroko's teasing chatter.
And then he realised that the thing that had got him to sleep was the thing that at the moment, was getting him through life, Kuroko.
Shit, another Korean romcom moment, Kagami winced.
Ah, who cares, when I've got such a perfect person beside me, he thought.
He gripped Kuroko's hand, closed his eyes, and drifted off.