Chapter 1
There was supposed to be a new kid, but Aomine hadn't seen him yet. No one had from what he could hear. Kuroko Tetsuya, or something like that. Aomine had even made an appearance in class that day just to see the son of a bitch who would actually move to the small speck on the map of a town he currently occupied.
"Um, I am here, actually." A soft voice said when the teacher marked Kuroko absent.
Aomine looked towards the voice with surprise, along with everyone else in the room, to see the new kid was indeed there. Sitting in the desk next to Aomine's no less. Aomine blinked a few times before a smirk formed on his face. "Welcome to Teiko, Tetsu. If you've got a brain in that pretty little head of yours you'll hate it here." Aomine drawled, holding eye contact mostly to make sure that the kid next to him didn't disappear.
"Aomine. What a surprise for you to grace us with your presence today. Please refrain from trying to force your opinion of the town onto our new student." The teacher said.
Aomine kept his eyes on Kuroko for a moment longer before turning to the teacher. "Yes, because we're all so good at keeping our opinions to ourselves here, aren't we? I'll tell you what, since apparently I'm not allowed to assert any freedom of speech and try to make new friends, I'll just ungrace you all." He got up, winked at Kuroko, and walked out of the classroom. No one even tried to stop him.
He certainly had Kuroko's interest.
Aomine fell into step next to Momoi as she walked to lunch latter that day. "So, what can you tell me about the new kid?"
"That his name is Kuroko Tetsuya, not 'new kid', as I'm sure you're well aware." She replied, rolling her eyes at him. "Honestly, Dai-chan, I'm not sure why you always come to me for gossip. You seem to forget that I'm not all that popular. You'd have better luck asking Ki-chan about Tetsu-kun."
By all reasoning Momoi should be popular. She was pretty, smart, nice, and had huge tits. What wasn't there to like? Aomine certainly couldn't find anything. Other than maybe her constant nagging about him skipping class, but he was pretty sure that was reserved just for him. That and her cooking. Aomine was still convinced that stuff could be weaponized. Cooking didn't need to be a factor in friendship though, so he didn't think that should interfere with her ability to make friends.
People didn't like her much though. Because of her looks and the types of clothing she wore –short skirts or shorts whenever wheatear allowed- she was labeled as the school whore. Girls tended to stay away from her, claiming that she would steal their boyfriends or something equally stupid. Parents also told their daughters not to hang out with her, worried her supposed bad behavior would rub off on their clearly angelic children. Never mind that she'd never even had sex with anyone. Which is why a lot of the boys in school didn't like her. Apparently not putting out made her a bitch. Aomine had been in quite a few fights with guys who got a little too touchy feely with his childhood friend and then got pissed when she wasn't interested in them.
Kise, on the other hand, was popular for the same reason she was unpopular with the girls in their school. It was a bit of a double standard really, and Kise tried to stand up for Momoi, but it never seemed to work. Girls just got more jealous that Momoi got to be friends with Kise, and made fun of her when Kise wasn't around to tell them not to. But his looks got him popularity among the girls, and their parents telling them to stay away from Kise only made them want to be around him more. If he lived closer to a city he'd probably be a model. He managed popularity with the guys by being good at every single sport there was. Whenever someone needed an extra man on their team Kise was the guy to call.
"I can't ask Kise. If I ask him it sounds like I care, and he'll start filling me in on everything that's happening around here. I only want to find out about Tetsu." He replied. "And I'm sure you know more about him than I do since you actually go to class."
She sighed, taking a seat at one of the outside benches for lunch. Aomine took the seat across from her. "I know that he's not from a city like everyone seems to think. Just the suburbs. He's also nice. He stood up for me when some girls were being rude earlier, coming out of nowhere and saying something along the lines of: 'Someone else's sex life is none of your business. If you really are worried about your boyfriends sleeping with Momoi-san, however, you should probably get different men. After all, they can't be that great if they'd cheat on you. Instead of questioning her intentions with them, maybe question why you are with them.' and then he walked me to my next class." She said with a tiny smile.
Aomine nodded. Anyone who was nice to Momoi was good in his books.
"Dai-chan, please be nice to him. Whatever it is that you're planning that made you take interest in him, don't get him in trouble. He's a good guy."
"So little faith in me, Satsuki. And so dramatic. What the hell do you think I'm gonna do to the guy? Anyway, anything else you know?"
"Just that Ki-chan's bouncing around him like a puppy. It's kind of cute. He invited Tetsu-kun to have lunch with him and Kasamatsu since they apparently both have lunch next period."
"Daiki, shouldn't you be in class right now? If I recall, you don't have lunch for another two hours." Akashi said, coming up behind him. "You're also in my seat." He added when Aomine looked over his shoulder at the red head.
Akashi gave him a smile that most would read as charming, but that Aomine knew, from experience, was threatening.
Akashi was one of the few people Aomine - sometimes- listened to in this town. Mostly because he was pretty sure that if anyone in this town was going to bring to life the small town massacre theme of a lot of horror movies it would be Akashi. If Akashi snapped and started killing people one day, Aomine wanted to still be on his good side. He was a good guy and all, but something about him just gave Aomine the creeps. And he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Aomine and Takao had a bet running on how long it would take for Akashi to try to kill someone and on who it would be. Aomine was betting it would be Kagami. Takao thought it would be Aomine. They both thought before the end of highschool, Takao just thought it would be a bit latter into highschool than Aomine did.
"Yeah, yeah, I was just leaving." He said waving Akashi off, and getting out of the seat. "Where's your four eyed shadow and his boyfriend? Banging in the janitor's closet?"
"Shintarou and Kazunari are still in the lunch line, and will be joining us momentarily. Must you be so vulgar? Especially in such a public place? Comments like that could get those two in serious trouble. And that would just leave Satsuki and I to eat lunch here by ourselves since all of the others have different lunch periods."
"No one takes anything I have to say seriously anyway. It's not a big deal." Aomine said as Midorima and Takao, speak of the devil and he and his sidekick shall appear, walked up and took seats across from each other, Midorima next to Akashi and Takao next to Momoi.
"I can confirm that no one takes you seriously, myself included, but why is that of subject?" Midorima asked, adjusting his glasses before he took a sip of his drink.
"I'll just let them fill you in on that. I've got some napping to catch up on. I'm thinking of going to my last class today." He waved and walked off towards the school to that he could go up to the roof.
"Do you know Aomine Daiki?" Kuroko asked Kise at lunch.
"Everyone knows everyone here." Kasamatsu told him flatly before Kise could answer.
"And most of us wish we didn't know Aomine." Kagami added with a laugh.
"That's not true, Kagamicchi! I like knowing Aominecchi!" Kise interjected, before turning to Kuroko. "Aominecchi is great. If something interesting happens here he's probably behind it. Or he'll take the fall for it if someone doesn't want to get in trouble and they get caught doing something."
"Most of the time. If he doesn't like what you're blaming him for he won't. Remember that time some dude tried to blame Aomine for the black eye his girlfriend got?" Kasamatsu said.
"Someone hit their girlfriend?" Kuroko's eyebrows shot up.
"No, she got hit in the face with a soccer ball when she walked too close to the field behind the school and someone fucked up their kick." Kasamatsu told him, rolling his eyes. "At least ten people saw it, Kise included, but her boyfriend didn't like Aomine so he tried to blame him. That kind of thing happens a lot. Not girls getting hit by soccer balls, but people blaming Aomine for something just because they don't like him."
"But anytime someone gets caught with alcohol and says Aomine got it for them he agrees that he did it, even though he doesn't talk to half the people that do that." Kagami said.
"Why?" Kuroko asked, tilting his head.
"Aominecchi loves getting in trouble. I think it's just to spite the town. I'm not sure who's more excited for him to leave, the adults here or him. He dose good things though. He's started a bunch of fights with guys trying to take advantage of Momoicchi. Even one with someone who was an asshole to Riko-san, and he says that he doesn't even like her much. Or there was that time that they tried to make a dress code about how short skirts could be for girls. It was definitely targeted at Momoicchi. So, Aominecchi stole one of her skirts and wore it around school, saying that since the dress code said the rule applied to girls it was okay for him to do that. They took away the part that specified gender, but he kept on doing it until they just took away the rule entirely. It was pretty funny to watch Aominecchi walk around in Momoicchi's skirts for two weeks."
"He wore those miniskirts pretty confidently for a guy whose entire wardrobe seems to consist of basketball shorts and jeans." Kagami added.
"You're one to talk. Have you looked at your wardrobe recently?" Kise asked.
"Whatever. All I know is that the guy's an asshole. Why do you even want to know about him?" Kagami asked Kuroko.
"He talked to me this morning. I was curious." Kuroko said simply.
"If he spoke to you without you forcing him to he's probably planning to incorporate you into his latest stunt. Aomine doesn't really go looking for friends." Kasamatsu warned him.
"It took nearly a week of me pestering him to get him to come over and play video games back when I first started being friends with him in middle school. That might be more because he sucks at video games though." Kise confirmed.
"Might be planning to sleep with him. He's pretty direct when he's approaching girls for that." Kagami joked.
"Kurokocchi's a bit flat chested for Aominecchi's taste." Kise said with a laugh. "Do you remember the teachers' faces when he brought that picture book to school?"
"I think that was before I got here, but I believe you that he would be looking at porn in school." Kagami replied.
"I thought that was going to be the time when Akashicchi would finally kill Aominecchi."
"Takao would be fifty bucks richer if that had happened."
The bet had to be explained to Kuroko after that comment. "I think Akashi-kun would be unhappy to hear about this bet."
"Probably. Which is why it's best not to tell him. The guy is fucking crazy." Kagami said, which effectively changed the subject from Aomine to Akashi.
"Hey, Tetsu!" Kuroko heard someone call over to him as he exited the school at the end of the day. He looked over at Aomine, rather surprised that the other had been able to pick him out of a crowd, until he saw that Aomine seemed to just be calling that to the crowd in general, hoping for an answer. Kuroko decided to give him one.
"Yes, Aomine-kun?" He asked, walking out of the crowd and over to where the other was leaning against the school building.
"Where are you going?"
"Home." Kuroko answered, tilting his head slightly at Aomine.
"Sounds boring. Change of plans, I'm showing you around this shit hole. If you're going to live here, you should know where things are." Aomine said, pushing off the wall and starting to walk without so much as looking behind him to make sure that Kuroko was following.
Kuroko had already received a few offers from different people to be shown around, but he decided to follow Aomine. After all, he was still curious about Aomine.
"Hey, Tetsu, are you hungry?" Aomine asked when they were off of school grounds. "I skipped lunch to sleep, so I'd take on Akashi for something to eat right now."
Big words considering how most people seemed to react to Akashi. From what Kuroko had observed, Akashi was a natural leader. The other had claimed him as a lab partner in their chemistry class, and even Kise, who had been sticking to him like glue in every class they had together, hadn't argued it.
"Is there anywhere here that has vanilla milk shakes?" Kuroko asked.
"Maji Burger it is then." Aomine decided, changing course to walk towards the diner.
"I thought you were showing me around."
"We're starting with the only place that sells vanilla shakes. It's the first stop in our tour." Aomine replied.
"Okay." Kuroko said simply. He had to walk a bit faster than usual to keep up with Aomine's long stride, but he was starting to get used to that. A lot of the people he'd met that day seemed to be tall. Basketball scouts should be coming to this town.
"So, what brought you here anyway?" Aomine asked.
"My mom wanted a new start after my dad left. Apparently she drove through here one time when she was lost and liked it. So, here we are. It took quite a bit of searching on the internet before we actually were able to find directions."
"That's a lame reason to move. An even worse reason to drag your son with you. She couldn't have waited another year and a half for you to be old enough to go to college so that she could make her new start by herself?"
Kuroko shrugged. "Guess not. It's not really a big deal. My best friend was moving anyway, so it's not like I had much holding me there. And like you said, I've only got a little over a year left until I can go somewhere else if I don't like it here." He explained. The look on Aomine's face suggested that he didn't think that was a good enough defense.
"And I'm guessing, despite your disappearing and reappearing act, people have been all over you today. I remember the last new kid we had. Came from America. He got adopted by Riko's gang almost immediately." His tone made it clear that he wasn't a fan of Kagami. At least, Kuroko assumed he was talking about Kagami, since Kagami was the only person who had so much as been to America that he'd met hanging out with Riko and her 'gang' as Aomine put it. It was just a bunch of boys she was friends with and who were friends with each other. He supposed he'd kind of been adopted by them too.
"Kagami-kun seems nice to me." Kuroko said.
Aomine cut him a look, before focusing ahead of himself again. "Yeah, well, you would think that."
"I suppose more people are noticing me than usual. I've even made a few friends. I hear that quite a few of them are friends with you?"
"Maybe. Satsuki, and I guess you can count Midorima, Takao, Akashi, Murasakibara, and Kise as my friends. And I deal with Riko and her group sometimes since Satsuki seems to like them well enough, but I doubt any of them would call me their friend and I'm certainly not calling them mine." He said, ticking people off on his fingers as he listed them.
"Yes, I've met all of those people." Kuroko confirmed.
It seemed that they had reached Maji. Aomine went in first. He didn't hold the door open for Kuroko, but he did open it wide enough for himself that it didn't close quickly enough to shut in Kuroko's face.
Kuroko decided not to comment on the sheer amount of food that Aomine was getting since Aomine didn't do more than raise his eyebrows at the fact that Kuroko only ordered a milk shake. Although, he wished someone else where there, because while he had never been a gambling man he did kind of want to bet on Aomine's ability to actually consume the pile of burgers and fries he had ordered.
Then again, considering the fact that the cashier didn't look even a little surprised at the large order, maybe betting on it wouldn't be a good idea.
Kuroko was pretty sure that he was supposed to notice the way Aomine's eyes zeroed in on his lips when they wrapped around the straw to his milkshake, but he decided not to comment on that either. They stayed quite for a bit so that Aomine could eat. Kuroko was both impressed and disgusted to see that it looked like Aomine was actually going to finish all of that food.
"You ready?" Aomine asked when he'd thrown away the wrappers and fry containers after he finished his food. Kuroko wondered how he could afford to eat like that all the time.
"I have been ready for a while."
"You could have said something then." Aomine said, rolling his eyes. "I would have hurried up."
It took some restraint to not make a comment about how all of that food was already eaten too quickly.
They walked out and Aomine started pointing things out to him. "That's the library, where you can find our towns selection of preapproved books. Then we have the church. They take roll via sign in sheet there, so they'll notice if you don't show up. And the preacher will approach you about it later. Seirin over there is where Riko and her gang like to hang out. Kagami works there. For all there is to not like about him, he's actually a really good cook, so I'd recommend eating there at some point. There's our clothing store. If you want something that isn't boring you either need to make friends with someone who can sew or order online. Satsuki alters all of the stuff she buys there. Then that's Kaijo Grocery. Kise and Kasamatsu and the rest of their buddies work there. So, don't expect a quick shopping trip if you go there since, from what I've heard, Kise's gonna want to chat with you. That's the Shutoku drug store. It's still stuck in the fifties, so if you want ice cream or something from a soda fountain you can go hang out with Takao and Midorima. They used to sell milkshakes too, but they sold their machine to Maji a few years ago." That seemed to be the extent of things that Aomine found worth showing. Or maybe the extent of what there was. He didn't specify. He just told Kuroko that they were going to Aomine's house to watch a movie.
Aomine pulled out a box of cigarettes and held it out to Kuroko to offer him one. "No thanks." Kuroko declined.
"Your loss." Aomine put one between his lips before putting the box away and pulling out a lighter.
"Your lungs."
"That's not a very good argument." Aomine said around the cigarette as he lit it.
"It wasn't supposed to be."
When they got to Aomine's house Aomine picked a movie at random and then flopped down on his couch, stretching his long limbs, and letting a good portion of his legs hang over the edge. Kuroko pushed his legs aside and sat down. Aomine moved his legs right back so that they were in Kuroko's lap once the smaller teen had settled down.
"Aomine-kun, this is not a movie." Kuroko informed him about two minutes in.
"Sure it is." Aomine argued, waving him off.
"This is porn."
"Yeah, I noticed. Do you know how hard it is to find porn in this town?"
"Considering the books in your library have to be preapproved, I'm guessing you have to purchase it online. However, as proud as I'm sure you are of managing to smuggle this in here, would you mind changing it to an actual movie?"
"Such a buzz kill." Aomine did get up and switch out the disk though. He probably shouldn't just be picking things at random.
"Is there a reason you keep that with the rest of your movies instead of hiding it like most teenagers?" Kuroko asked.
"Why bother? I've been caught with worse, so it's not like anyone's going to be surprised to find that next to The Scarlet Letter. I think my mom was trying to send me a message by putting that one there."
"Just put Easy A next to The Scarlet Letter and you guys can call it even." Kuroko told him. The next dvd Aomine put into the old player seemed to be an actual movie this time, so Aomine went back to his former position on the couch with his legs across Kuroko's lap.
Aomine's mother came home as the movie was ending and looked surprised to see Kruoko there. "You must be our new resident. It's nice to meet you." She said, shaking Kuroko's hand.
"You as well." Kuroko said with a polite smile.
"Do you boys need any snacks or something to drink?" She asked.
"I'm starving. What do we have?" Aomine said. Kuroko decided that there was a black hole in Aomine's stomach. There was no other explanation.
"I should actually be heading home." Kuroko interjected before he could witness the phenomenon that was Aomine's eating habits for a second time.
"I'll walk you. It can't be too far away." Aomine got up while allowed Kuroko to do the same.
They said their good byes to Aomine's mother before exiting the house. Aomine gestured for Kuroko to lead the way, and after a moment to remember the way –because as easy to navigate as this town was he still wasn't used to it yet- he started walking towards his new house.
"What are you planning on doing after school, if you don't mind my asking?" Kuroko asked Aomine as they walked.
"Getting the hell out of here." Aomine said in a tone that suggested there was no other acceptable answer.
"Yes, I figured as much by your first introduction to me this morning. I meant, how are you planning to do that? College, work, a train ticket and no plan? How are you getting out of here?" Kuroko rephrased his question.
"College. I'm not into the idea of more school, but if it means getting out of here I'll do it. I'm thinking of studying criminology to be a cop."
"That's an admirable job choice if that's the route you decide to go with, but do you think you'll get into any colleges if you're always skipping class?" Kuroko asked him bluntly.
Aomine looked mildly offended at the question. "I'm passing all of my classes. I'm passing them rather well actually. I don't have to show up to make the grade. Why should I deal with these people when I can just look at Satsuki's notes and learn everything that way? The teachers just mark me present even when I'm not in class since they know I'm around somewhere and they don't want to have to deal with me."
"It sounds like you're wasting your potential to make a point then." Kuroko observed.
"And what point do you think I'm trying to make?" Aomine challenged.
"I'm not sure. I'm not convinced that you know either. My advice to you: if you're going to rebel against the rules, at least have a reason."
They had reached Kuroko's house. "I'll see you at school tomorrow. Or whenever, if you decide to skip again." He waved before walking into his new house and closing the door.