Hey all! I uploaded this short on another site back in 2015 and apparently never uploaded it here for some reason. I like it a lot, so here it is!
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
He was smiling.
With nearly every joke and every laugh from the group, Kagami found himself looking Kuroko's way to catch it. He wanted to memorize such an honest, unabashed expression. Carve it into his mind. Keep it. Of all the ways he'd seen Kuroko smile in the past, the one he was putting on tonight was his new favorite. It was the first time he'd covered his mouth with loose fingers, as if he was embarrassed to smile so widely in front of anyone else. He covered it, but always pulled his hand down just a little too soon and Kagami could get a glimpse of his lips and teeth. The entire ordeal was beyond adorable and he quickly decided that having a few drinks had been a wonderful idea afterall.
Kuroko, on the other hand, honestly wasn't exactly sure what all was being said anymore.
He had a feeling that he may be the drunkest one there, or that he was just as drunk as everyone else and simply didn't know how the gauge things correctly. He couldn't quite catch the entirety of the conversation no matter how hard he focused and even though he could tell that they were all speaking loudly, they didn't actually sound too loud. His lips felt a little numb and even though he found everything to be much funnier than usual, he didn't really jump into conversation. He felt shy, for some reason, and didn't want everyone to look at him while he spoke.
Perhaps it was because this was the first time Kuroko had been truly drunk. He'd tried things in the past, sipped drinks, and drank wine coolers but tonight… well, he was blaming Kise. Aomine and said blond had been the ones to bring everything over to his and Kagami's shared apartment and lured him in with some seducing concoction he'd mixed up. He'd been drinking a whipped-cream flavored vodka, which tasted almost like vanilla, mixed with some sort of juice and soda that hid the actual (large) amount of alcohol in the drink very well. On top of that, Kise had made one for him each time the blond made his own drinks, so by this point in the night Kuroko was a good four or so drinks in and he was definitely feeling it. Kise was feeling it too of course, but, well… he had a higher tolerance than Kuroko did.
"Kurokocchi…" Kise drawled from across the coffee table, "your face is so red!"
Kagami's drunken gaze moved over to the boy next to him immediately, his grin widening as he caught sight of the pale, slender hand move up once again to cover his smile. Kuroko's face was rather flushed, like Kise had said. Kagami wasn't really sure why… perhaps it was because of the alcohol or simply being embarrassed but regardless of the reason, he could still barely keep his eyes off of him.
"Stop…" Came the soft, playful plea from behind the aforementioned pale, slender hand that was doing a terrible job at hiding his smile. His eyes fluttered closed, then opened a moment later and settled on Kise silently before his brows furrowed upwards and he snorted out a laugh. The hand clamped down tighter over his mouth in response to the sound, but that only made him close his eyes once more and laugh harder.
A gasp pushed past Kise's lips and his face opened up in an expression of amusement, mouth opened in a wide smile to premise the loud laugh that came only seconds later. Aomine and Kagami joined suit right after and it wasn't long before all four of them were caught in a fit of giggles and half-finished sentences. There wasn't a real reason to be laughing and there wasn't anything particularly funny, but in their drunken state everything seemed a little more hilarious; including Kuroko's snort and Kise's reaction.
Eventually, with the help of Kise excusing himself to the bathroom on account of laughing so hard, the excitement died down and the remaining three sat on the floor in a comfortable half-silence. Aomine had resigned to laying on the floor, his body outstretched in a position that could only be assumed as comfortable while Kagami and Kuroko sat at the opposite end of the table from him. Slowly, Kuroko's unfocused gaze followed the small bit of liquid as he swirled it in the bottom of his glass. His fingers felt a bit numb, as if he wasn't holding the glass as tightly as he should be or everything was lighter than it actually was. His head also felt heavy and unbalanced each time he moved it and he wondered if it was as visually noticeable as he feared it might be.
Most of all though, a tired feeling was beginning to creep over him. The laughing had drained a lot of energy and with his motor skills not cooperating completely, a bed was beginning to sound like a nicer and nicer idea. When Kise returned, Kuroko took it as his chance to leave before they got into anything else or even worse- decided to drink more. He really, really did not think he'd be able to down any more alcohol without actually feeling sick and turning this night into a regret.
"I'm…" He began, turning his head to Kagami and moving his hand over just slightly in a way that seemed unintentional. His voice was soft and meant only for the red-head and he waited until he had Kagami's attention on him before the edges of his mouth turned up just slightly in a quiet smile and he began again. "I'm going to bed, I think."
Kagami's eyebrows rose slightly and then a smile broke free of his expression. One of his broad hands patted down on the middle of Kuroko's back softly in a dismissive, reassuring way and then rubbed upwards once before withdrawing and returning to himself to fish through one of the pockets in his pants.
"Okay, I'll be in there in a minute."
Eventually he succeeded in retrieving his phone, holding it in his lap and fumbling with the passcode while Kuroko fumbled with standing but he eventually conquered the task and headed off towards the bedroom after saying his goodnights and goodbyes to Kise and Aomine.
"Shit, it's 2am" Kagami mumbled, swiping his thumb across the screen of his phone a few times for no particular reason other than to watch his app icons move around. Kise made a hum of a reply before finishing the small bit of what was left of Kuroko's glass, leaning back away from the table afterwards, and then looking back over his shoulder at Aomine. He didn't say a word but Aomine reacted all the same.
"Would it be cool if we crashed here tonight?"
"Yeah dude the.." Kagami's gaze lifted from his phone and moved over to Aomine and he paused for a blank, dumb moment before gesturing his hand towards the couch and situating himself to stand up. "fuckin…"
"Couch?"
Kagami coughed out a laugh and grinned, repeating the word with approval. "Couch, yeah. The couch can be… it folds into a bed. If you wanna do that."
"Okay. That sounds good." Kise dismissed, a soft hint of laughter in his voice as he waved Kagami off. When drunk, the red-head could occasionally be rather long-winded and he figured it was best to send him off now before he got off on some tangent about beds and couches and making-yourself-at-home. "Goodnight; tell Kurokocchi to sleep well!"
A breath of a laugh accompanied a soft blush and Kagami nodded before turning and walking off. He didn't know why he felt embarrassed or shy over the comment; it wasn't like their relationship was a secret by any means but for some reason the way it was laid out on the table like that had sent a little flutter through his chest. Maybe it was because of how cute Kuroko had been tonight or the fact that he'd still be that cute in the bedroom a few minutes from now where they'd be together and alone and Kagami would be the only one able to see that shy, hidden smile.
The flutter in his chest returned when he opened the bedroom door and caught sight of the lump beneath the comforter, just to the right of the center of the bed with disheveled, soft looking blue hair poking out the top. The desire to actually be in the bed with said lump took over as the most important thing and he tugged his shirt off over his head the moment after he closed the door.
"How you doing bub?"
Slender fingers revealed themselves from beneath the covers in response, tugging down the edge to show his face. Kuroko looked over at the new addition in the room and smiled, closed mouth at first but it quickly elevated to a quiet laugh and toothy grin which he immediately hid against his pillow. "I'm okay."
"Hmm? Are you sure?" Kagami teased with his own broad, playful smile. His hands dropped to his waist to undo the button on his jeans, speaking as he shoved down the offending clothing and clumsily pulled it off his feet. "You look like you're hiding something. Probably something cute, because you're an asshole." He accused. His clothes were finally off and he clambered into the bed clad in only his boxers, hiking the comforter high up over his shoulder once he was laid down comfortably. Kuroko couldn't help but laugh again, the pillow doing a sorry job at concealing anything and when Kagami moved in close he finally turned his face towards him and relaxed against him.
"Sorry"
"You should be."
Kagami's tone was light and teasing and even though Kuroko's smile was cute and genuine, Kagami's was twice the size. Without any attempt at subtlety, not that he exactly needed it, he reached down and hooked his hand behind Kuroko's knee to pull the smaller boy's leg up and over his hip so that they lay comfortable, flush against one another. Of course Kuroko let this happen with no complaints and when he felt Kagami's arm drape over his waist, he sighed contently through his nose and let his fingertips trail drunken paths against Kagami's throat.
"You should also probably shut off that lamp."
"Oh yeah." Kuroko's smile was audible as he rolled the upper half of his body over, extending his arm and gently prodding the switch and surrounding area with his fingers until he pressed hard enough to actually shut the light off like he wanted. Kagami tugged him back into place afterwards and closed his eyes, his hand finding its way up into Kuroko's shirt to rest warmly on the skin of his lower back.
"I think you drinking is a really good idea."
Kuroko's head nudged against the larger boy's chest as he looked up slightly. "Why's that?"
"You're cute and it does a lot of stuff to me."
An amused sigh of a laugh pushed past Kuroko's lips at the other's drunken babbling and he shifted the leg against his hip to lay more comfortably. "What kind of stuff?"
"I don't know… stuff." A pause, "I'm drunk Kuroko don't make fun of me."
"I'm not-" The two laughed, Kagami pushing Kuroko's head into his chest and ruffling his hair playfully and sloppily before finally submitting to the desire to sleep. They kissed their goodnights and soon fell into a hazy, alcohol induced slumber with limbs entwined and deep, slow breaths.
It was the first night Kuroko had been truly drunk and it'd be the first time he'd experience the sick, nauseous morning after but he couldn't say there were any regrets. He wasn't sure what kind of "stuff" his drunken self did to Kagami, but he was sure he'd find out sooner or later.
