Aomine sighed, gripping the sides of the sink in front of him. Water ran down his chin, slowly dripping back into the well. He ran a hand over his tired and weathered face, the rough prickles of unshaved stubble rubbing against the palm of his hand.
Daiki looked at himself in the mirror: eyes bloodshot, and hands shaking from the caffeine boost he had taken not just an hour ago. Baggy lines adorned his under eyes, looking as if they added ten more years to his actual age. He splashed more water on his face, willing himself to wake up.
A case had been given to him a week ago, a murder case which had been slowly draining the life out of him as it became more confusing, the puzzle falling out of his hands with every passing day.
It didn't help that his boss loomed behind him on more than one occasion monitoring his progress with the case, watching with his usual deadpan expression of course, Aomine never being able to tell his true thoughts on the matter.
It was then, however, when his boss seemed to notice his lack of progress, the text on his word document blinking at him continuously for the last few hours. Only a twitch of his lips downward gave insight to what his boss' true thoughts on the situation were, the surrounding area between the two of them increasing in tension. That fleeting expression only lasted a moment however, but Aomine had been able to catch it—and although it wasn't much, it produced enough stress and fear in him to shuffle through his documents with a flurry, typing whatever his fingers pressed on his keyboard to make at least some progress. It was reasons like these they called his boss, Kuroko Tetsuya, the "Silent Demon."
"If I could please have a full report on the progress of this case later in the afternoon, Aomine-kun, that would be most appreciated."
Aomine could only give a curt nod, slowing down his pace as his nerves settled once again.
From behind him, he could hear a slight huff, and he sensed fingers ghosting over his shoulders—gripping them with a surprising firm hold from his boss' petite and pale fingers.
"Do your best. I gave you this case since you're my most trusted officer. I know you won't let me down. Right, Aomine-kun?"
Daiki's eyes went wide as those same fingers pressed deeper into his shoulder, sending sparks of electricity throughout his whole body from that simple movement. He moved a hand over his mouth, to cover the creeping blush that started to spread across his cheeks. Never in his seven years of working here had Tetsu ever complimented him on anything. Ever.
What made everything worse of course, was that he had a stupid, childish, girlish crush on his supervisor, and no matter what he did, the feelings he tried to suppress never went away.
But in a matter of looking back on it all, Aomine knew that he had been doomed from the start.
He never stood a chance.
The small petite body, yet with strong muscular arms defined underneath his white collared shirt, those blue eyes which brought out shards of dark cerulean blue mixed in with ice, (always matched by a similar blue tie which he wore every day).
It didn't help that as they worked together, Tetsu deemed himself to his coworkers and subordinates, showing himself as a respectable and hardworking supervisor to them all. Aomine often found him still typing at his computer, multiple cups of coffee scattered around his work area just within arm's reach.
Daiki would nod at him goodnight, heading out of the office, the lights all dark except for the one beaming down upon Tetsu's only desk in the now empty office. His boss would usually never reply to his farewells, too absorbed in his own work. However there would be those fleeting moments of a small smile, or nod in his direction afterwards, causing Daiki's heart to beat at a furious pace.
Within those first few months, Aomine had realized he had fallen in love with him. Gradually he was able to get closer to his boss, feigning off their closeness as just that of a man and his administrator, making an easy friendship with him. He called him, "Tetsu," draping an arm across his shoulder in the morning, ruffling his hair when times deemed it appropriate. Each and every time Kuroko would lift the corners of his lips in a delicate smile, only seen by Aomine. That in itself was enough for Daiki even if his love would never come true.
It wasn't like he was really thinking his love would come to fruition. They were both men, and a boss to subordinate at that. He didn't have much of a chance, but his heart never seemed to let go of that fateful feeling.
He rinsed his face off once more, scrubbing hard to get his mind back to the present.
Although they were close, Tetsu never let him slack off at work, and in times like these, such behavior was put to the side until the job was finished.
The door to the bathroom opened and one of his coworkers, Kise Ryouta, slunk in, pushing his long fingers through his blond hair, sighing as he reached for the sink by him.
Like himself, Kise's eyes were dragged down and tired, his pallor starting to lose some of his own color. But since Kise was a model outside of work, he was able to still pull it off somehow, never seeming to look tired or worn down like the rest of the normal human population.
"Is Tetsu pulling a hard one on you too?" Aomine sighed, as he turned off the faucet, reaching for a paper towel to wipe his face off.
Kise let out a sarcastic laugh, rolling up his sleeves, shaking his head.
"Not nearly as hard as your case, but definitely a rough one. Why does our unit get all the difficult cases?"
Aomine could only laugh at that, straightening up his tie in the mirror.
"You probably should have thought about that before joining the homicide unit, dumbass."
Kise sighed dramatically, whipping his head to look at Aomine with a pout.
"But no one told me this unit would have such hard cases! I should have applied to the domestic unit…"
Gathering up his belongings, Aomine walked by Kise, but not without hitting him on the back of his head playfully.
"You know full well why you applied to this unit. Like all of us did."
The blond can't help but to let out a sly smile, looking back towards the mirror.
"Right as always, Aominecchi. Don't die an early death from stress to add onto our workload, 'kay?"
Aomine nodded, heading out the door with a wave of his hands.
"See 'ya, Kise."
He headed back to his desk, newly refreshed (as refreshed as he could be without a full night's sleep), and took a deep breath, sliding back into his seat.
"Have a nice break?" A voice called out from behind him, scaring him.
"Tetsu? When did you get here?" He coughed out, beating his chest with a close fist.
Kuroko let out a quiet laugh, sliding in next to him to shuffle the papers scattered on Aomine's desk. It was a rather personal closeness between their two bodies; Tetsuya's hip brushing against his arm. He could feel the hard leather of his boss' belt slide across his skin whenever he inclined forward.
Aomine loosened his tie to breathe easier, his pulse rising faster at their close proximity.
"Just now. I noticed you took a long break. You look tired," Tetsuya replied quietly, squinting down at the papers in his hand as he peered through each one.
"Do I? Sorry 'bout that." Aomine clacked away at his keyboard, keeping his focus directly on the computer screen—afraid if he let his mind veer to thoughts awry he would never finish this case.
"Why are you apologizing? It is one of our hardest cases this period."
"I guess. It just frustrates me that I can't figure out the suspect behind it all."
Kuroko hummed, leaning over Aomine's keyboard to type away at something at his own computer, his employee pass dangling right before his eyes.
"Err, Tetsu?"
Kuroko looked down at him, bringing his finger to his lips with a smile.
"Shh, hold on a moment, I think I found something to help you."
Aomine's eyes widened in surprise and he stayed quiet, watching as Tetsu worked at his computer, his face serious.
After a couple of minutes of Kuroko working, with Aomine watching him with an expression of awe and respect, Tetsuya finally loosened his expression, leaning back and looking at the computer screen with a nod.
"I think this will help put things together for you, Aomine-kun."
He turned towards the screen, mouth agape with all the information he had been searching for during the last week, and here his boss had found it within minutes.
"How were you able to find this?!" Aomine asked in utter astonishment, looking back at Kuroko, dumbfounded.
Kuroko cocked his head to the side, blinking at him.
"Hm? It was in one of the articles here on your desk. They briefly reference it, but just with one search on that on reference the victim made, it brought up the criminal record of the suspect. Being the only one in the county with that kind of criminal record, it just automatically pointed to him."
Aomine could only chuckle, running a hand through his hair.
"You really are amazing, Tetsu."
Out of the corner of his eye he could swear Kuroko had averted his eyes, his cheeks slightly pinker, but knowing him it was probably just his imagination.
"Do you think you'll be able to finish it this afternoon then?"
Daiki took a swig of coffee on his desk, turning towards him with a nod and a smug smirk.
"No problem at all. You did say I am your best officer, right? I'll have this up and done in no time."
Kuroko chuckled, tapping him on the top of his head with a stack of papers lightly.
"Don't let it get to your head, now. Alright, I'll be counting on you."
Hours later (and some odd number of coffee cups later), the report was finally finished.
Aomine heaved out a sigh of relief, stretching his arms above his head, feeling the sore and cramped muscles in his arms pop back into place, finally getting some movement into them.
He hadn't moved for the last several hours, hunching over his desk as all the pieces were finally placed together. He had not known of what to do with them before, but now that it was all there in front of him, it was as simple as breathing.
Printing off the final pages, he turned off the PC, all but skipping to the printer to receive his final copy before walking towards Tetsu's office door, bringing a closed fist to the wood, ready to knock.
But before he could even rap his knuckles against it, the door opened to show his boss, his eyes growing wide for just a second in surprise.
"Aomine-kun, I didn't expect to see you here for a while. You had looked so in focus the past few hours."
Aomine couldn't help but let out a light laugh, stretching out his arms behind his head with a smug grin.
"Thanks to you, I finished in no time, and here it is."
He placed the paper in Kuroko's hands, almost ready to leave until a hand reached out to grab his wrist.
"Tetsu?" Aomine asked in surprise, looking down at where his hand grabbed at the fabric of his jacket.
Kuroko looked up at him and without a word, tugged him inside and closed the door to his office.
"Tetsu?!"
His boss only gave him a small smile, and stepped back, placing his arm forward in a small fist, extending it towards him.
"For a job well done."
Daiki smiled, extending his hand forward towards Tetsuya's, bumping their knuckles slightly.
"Thanks, Tetsu."
Aomine turned to leave, taking a deep breath, his heart beating erratically. Tetsu had never acted so warm to him before now. They were able to make conversation of course, and act as friends, but he had never taken the initiative like today. It was making him feel excited, jittery, nervous, and of course not helping the massive crush he had.
"Wait, before you go Aomine-kun," Kuroko interrupted, taking a step forward.
"Hm?" Aomine asked, turning back around.
But what Aomine got in return wasn't what he had been expecting at all.
Kuroko pulled Aomine forward by the grip of the front of his jacket, and pulled him downwards towards himself, and kissed him.
He was struck in a daze for a couple of seconds before his mind even registered what was happening.
Tetsu was kissing him.
Tetsu was kissing him.
Tetsu was kissing him.
And still kissing him for that matter.
Aomine wrapped his arms around Kuroko, pulling him closer, passionately kissing him back, all logic be damned.
All that mattered in the world right now was Tetsu.
As Aomine deepened the kiss more, Kuroko moaned just slightly as he tilted his face just so, getting a better angle to their embrace. Aomine slid his hand towards the hem of his partner's jacket, lifting it up to feel the cool and hard muscles of Tetsu's back.
Unfortunately, he never got that far.
The door burst open in that moment, Kuroko's assistant, Kagami Taiga, stood at the entranceway, sweat running down his face with two cups of coffee.
He immediately froze at the sight he saw, his supervisor, and a colleague entwined together with their eyes hazy and full of lust.
"Uh, I guess I'll just… leave these outside the door."
Kuroko sighed, slowly, disentangling himself from Aomine.
"Yes, I think that might be the best thing to do right now. I'll get them in a moment."
Kagami nodded while avoiding his eyes, and as soon as Kuroko finished his order, he ran out the door, closing the door with a loud bang.
Aomine winced, scratching the back of his head.
"Why did he have to ruin it when things were getting good," Aomine sighed, straightening up his clothes.
Kuroko made his way back over to his desk, laughing quietly.
"That's just the kind of thing he does. He can't really help it, I think."
"That so?"
Aomine paused, looking back over to Tetsu, to see if he could read what he even had in mind.
Why did he even kiss him in the first place?
Was it some sort of gratitude kiss, or something of the sort? Tetsu didn't really seem to be the type who would do such a thing to someone he didn't like, but there wasn't any way that he could like him in such a way.
"Why did you, uh," Aomine stopped, finding it hard to choose the words he wanted, getting embarrassed all of a sudden.
"Kiss you?" Kuroko finished for him, sighing in impatience.
"Yeah, that."
"Well, I like you. I have for a while, actually," Tetsuya said quietly, looking up at him with his bright blue eyes, ever unwavering. "And the way you've been acting I thought maybe you liked me too, but please correct me if I am wrong, Aomine-kun."
At that point, Aomine was going through a thousand of different emotions all at once - Happiness, confusion, astonishment, disbelief, and love.
"You like me?" Aomine felt he had to ask, unable to truly believe it.
"Yes."
"I… I like you too, but why me?" He watched Kuroko carefully, trying to measure where exactly and how exactly he stood to be in his life.
"You're a hard worker, Aomine-kun. And I like that about you. You also get so deep and full hearted into your work like no one else does, and it's that passion and drive, I think that made me like you."
"Is that so…" Aomine heaved a sigh of relief, tilting his head back. "Man, I never thought today would end up like this. It's too good to be true."
Kuroko stepped forward once again, standing on his tiptoes to kiss the bottom of Aomine's chin.
"I as well, but it seemed we both turned out to be wrong, for the better of it all," he said with a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
"Yeah," Aomine laughed in response, wrapping Kuroko back into his arms. "Yeah, we were, and thank god for that."