Chapter 1 – Ten I See
A/N: my first kurobasu fic, sorry in advance for OOC-ness and grammatical errors uwu" i'm still a bit new to writing fanfics in general aaaah and rest assured, for i don't type like this in the actual fic ahaaha
Disclaimer: hahhaha do i own kurobas? ya rite wow rly no :/
It was bound to happen. Spending so much time with Kuroko; from their frequent trips to Maji to even just coordinating with each other on court – there was no stopping Kagami from falling for his shadow amongst all that. The only unbelievable thing was that it'd taken him so long to realize it. He wasn't even aware of his growing attraction to the other, until he'd found himself wishing to gather Kuroko into his arms on one of those rare days Kuroko offered a break in his usual expression and let out a small smile. On this occasion, the reason being because he'd just witnessed the redhead make a fool of himself while dreaming in class. When Kagami turned around, after a lecture from the teacher, to yell at Kuroko for not warning him, that was when the sudden urge flowed through him once he caught a glance at his partner's face. Completely taken off guard, he'd quickly diverted his gaze back to his notes; scribbling lines on the page too look as if he was working.
The reason for his thoughts had dawned on him halfway through the day, making him blush relentlessly when it did. Of course, with this realization, he suddenly became much more aware of Kuroko even when the smaller boy wasn't around. Images of him popped up in Kagami's head, all endearing in different ways. Determined on court, persevering through practice, and the face of pure content and joy on his face after a victory. They were all enough to keep Kagami distracted even during practice and the extra training Riko punished him with for not focusing.
Maji Burger that evening was a nightmare. Kagami had been even jumpier than usual when Kuroko appeared, choking so badly this time he'd thought he would be off to the ER. He wouldn't look at Kuroko straight on, opting for window or even the ceiling. A permanent red flush had made its way across his cheek and reaching the tip of his ears and Kuroko had definitely noticed, bluntly stating, "Kagami-kun is acting weird today."
To which Kagami responded by blathering nonsense, bits of food spilling out of his mouth in a way that was most unattractive. He'd finally turned tail and hurried out the burger joint, leaving his mountain of burgers behind, half still untouched.
That night, he'd lain in bed for the longest time, unable to fall asleep even though there was no match the following day. Up until now, his mind was always focused solely on basketball. Sure, there had been a few crushes back in America when some cute girls were nice to him, but they would grow bored when he made no advances or tire of his talk about basketball. If neither, then they were promptly forgotten the next year, being in different classes and all.
But now it was different, because Kuroko shared his interest in basketball and Kuroko knew the guy he was. And so, that night, Kagami Taiga decided to make a move, for the first time, in the direction of romance.
He'd been worrying about it all day and trying to plan it out that the day seemed to fly by unusually fast. And the perfect opportunity had presented itself already. Their senpai had all been practicing by the time Kuroko and Kagami arrived and the other first years had filed out of the locker room soon after. Now it was just the two of them and Kagami wished he had more time to mentally prep himself, but Kuroko was already sliding on his signature wristband, ready to head out. He had to capture this chance! He opened his mouth and stuttered out the first words that came to his mind.
"A-are you from Tennessee?" Shit. That was not at all what he'd been planning throughout the past 12 hours. Of all pick up lines he'd heard in America, he chose that one? Kagami could feel himself flush a deep red. Kuroko was still just standing there, frozen in place, obviously trying to decode what Kagami had just said. Well, he might as well finish it.
"'Cause you're the only ten I see!" The redhead chuckled awkwardly before wincing. That couldn't have gone much worse and there still wasn't a response from Kuroko. Kagami scratched the back of his neck. Should he just leave and pretend this whole ordeal never happened? He was mentally running a list of excuses he could give Kuroko for blurting something like that out, ranging from a fever to an experiment, until finally Kuroko turned around.
"No, Kagami-kun. You are the ten here." Then he exited out onto the court before Riko could burst in and screech at them to hurry up.
This was now the second night in a row he's having trouble falling asleep. Kuroko and he'd ate and parted in silence at Maji. What did he mean Kagami was the ten? Had Kuroko been complimenting him? His eyes widened. Maybe it was a returned love confession! If it was, everything had turned out easier than originally thought – there was no big deal after all. Kagami smiled stupidly at the thought that Kuroko returned his feelings and drifted off to sleep in bliss.
The following day at school, everything went as they normally did. Kuroko didn't seem as if he was affected at all by the incident in the locker room at yesterday's practice; and for that, Kagami was slightly glad. Practice went relatively well too and it wasn't until their stop at Maji Burger that Kagami began to panic. If they had mutual confessions, didn't that mean they were dating now? Was this considered a date? He set down his usual pile of food and slid into the seat opposite of Kuroko. He should ask for confirmation first, that's what he should do.
"Hey, Kuroko. What'd you mean yesterday that I'm a, uh, ten?"
Kuroko lifted his lips from the straw of his milkshake and glanced up at Kagami blankly. "Kagami-kun is ten just like I'm eleven."
These words did not solve the taller's confusion at all and instead heightened it. What was that? Was he now saying he was more attractive than Kagami? Was that masked as an insult?
The rest of the evening carried on with the same silence as the previous night's and Kagami had sat going over Kuroko's words so intently, he didn't notice the boy himself finish his milkshake and bid him farewell.
It was then, that third night he spent pondering over complications in love, did Kagami bolt upright in his bed and yell out loud the answer.
"He was talking about jersey numbers!"
It would be a while before Kagami tried another American pick up line on Kuroko.