"I'm saying I'll teach you to shoot."

That's where it started. He was still trying to figure out where it ended. This pounding. In his chest and his head and his fingers. This feeling, it was his heartbeat, he wasn't used to feeling it, unless it was the last few nail-biting seconds of a game. But Aomine… Ever since he said that… It was like every second with him was like that.

His muscles ached and he didn't know why. He wasn't tired, he wasn't strained, but they ached so poorly, so pitifully. They didn't want to hold him anymore, not like this. It was like his body was giving up all by itself. He truly did not understand.

Was this some kind of talent that Aomine developed when he wasn't looking again? No, that's too sneaky for him. Aomine wasn't the develop type… More like the improvise, on-the-spot, heat of the moment type. So just what was this? This pulsing in his skin, he could feel it as long dark fingers thread through his hair.

He could hear some kind of criticism, "bend your knees more," or, "don't rush it," but his focus was on those finger tips so gently familiar with his hair. His knees couldn't bend anymore, they're going to give out. He had to rush, or else his shaking would be too visible. He felt panicked and he still couldn't understand why. So what else was there to do…?

"You make me uncomfortable."

Aomine just stared at him for a moment, eyes a little wider at the sudden statement. Kuroko was staring right back at him, as far as he was concerned he wasn't making a weird face, but later Aomine would tell him he was making the most disturbed but adorable expression he had ever seen. So it felt almost natural when he leaned forward and gently pecked him on the lips. It felt natural at least, like he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. Kuroko's words didn't even register, they didn't matter, it was easy to read the boy once you understood his expressions.

He was all about subtleties, and once you could see them… You could see Kuroko.

"… That made me more uncomfortable."

… Understanding was not part of that though.

"Oi, read the mood."

"I don't understand what mood you want me to read, Aomine-kun."

"What do you mean, 'what mood?' This mood! The kissing mood!"

"It makes me uncomfortable."

"Deal with it."

His arms are way too long for a high school student, when he plays it's like they extend and he becomes some kind of super hero, the way he fluidly uses them. When they condense and wrap around him though, he feels as though he is being bounded to him, like they have locked him in place.

"Don't try to go and disappear on me now, you can't hide here."

Their eyes lock. His breath was stopped. The pulsing was all he could feel for a moment, and then heated lips on his skin.

Can't breath. Can't breath. Can't breath.

His lips were parted, and he thought that maybe he was making some kind of noise, but he had no air for that so he couldn't see that being possible. At the same time he couldn't close his lips, his muscles felt locked, so he just allowed himself to become a passenger to the experience.

Teeth found a soft spot just under his jaw, the abuse of it causing his body to twitch in response, his first response to this event. Then his knees gave out, not that it mattered since Aomine was holding too tightly already. However, it did cause him to withdraw for a moment, and the second those lips left his skin he felt air rush back into his lungs again…

Along with the most embarrassing sound he has ever heard himself make.

They stared at each other a moment, Aomine blinking slowly and Kuroko not blinking at all.

"That was-"

"That didn't happen."

"It definitely-"

"No."

The smile that spread over Aomine's face was predatory. They had been always comparing him and Kagami to beasts, this was only expected in a way, he supposed. Except this situation in general was not expected… The grin was sharp, a weight that was suddenly dropped on him that just made him want to give in, he was too stubborn for that though.

"I'm going to make you do it again."

"No."

Since then, Kuroko still doesn't fully understanding the pounding, in his heart, his head, his fingertips. But he does understand that it only happens with Aomine, and that whatever it is, Aomine feels it only for him too.

And he was happy with that.