Author's Notes:I haven't felt inspired to write fanfiction since 2010, but I'm out of retirement because I ADORE this show and Kagami and Kuroko especially. Please be gentle with me, I'm out of practice X'D;;;

All's Fair in Love and Basketball

"Oi, Kagami!" Hyuuga waved from across the school courtyard just as the power forward was exiting the front gates.

At the call of his name, the tall redhead blinked and turned, waiting as the Seirin team captain and Izuki-senpai rushed over to meet him before they started walking home.

Hyuuga slapped Kagami on the shoulder as soon as he reached him. "Riko moved the practice to Thursday and it's going to be a double one."

"No!" Kagami groaned. "We just did a double practice."

Hyuuga smirked wryly in commiseration and pushed up his glasses. "We're in for it after losing that last practice match, so make sure you can make it."

"The coach means business." Izuki-senpai added, scratching the back of his head. He still looked sheepish for the sad pun he had shared earlier in the week about 'picking up the snacks' instead of 'picking up the slack', that had actually made the Coach laugh and got them all homemade protein powder ladened food as a "reward".

Both Hyuuga and Kagami put their hands to their stomachs and winced in remembrance.

"Anyway! Kagami, where's your better half?" Izuki-senpai joked. "Can you tell him about the new schedule?"

Kagami's eyes widened comically before they rolled a second later, and he jerked an elbow beside him. "Tell him yourself!"

"Izuki-san, Hyuuga-san." Kuroko seemed to materialize from a blind spot behind Kagami, making the two upperclassmen jump in surprise.

"Kuroko!"

Kuroko stared up at his teammates placidly. Kagami looked two parts embarrassed and one part annoyed, whereas Hyuuga and Izuki looked as if they were trying to re-play their previous conversation in their heads now knowing that Kuroko had heard and been a part of it all along.

It wasn't the first time the team had joked about some sort of perceived coupledom between Seirin's first year duo, although they usually only teased Kagami since Kuroko wasn't as easy to fluster by a long shot.

"I will be at practice. Oh, and I must disagree – Kagami-kun is the better half." Kuroko tipped his head, reminding all of them of his self-assigned position as Kagami's shadow.

Izuki laughed and Hyuuga cleared his throat while Kagami's cheeks just seemed to turn a little pinker.

"Just be there on Thursday both of you!" Hyuuga declared then turned in the opposite direction with Izuki to make their way home.

Kagami immediately launched an arm down onto Kuroko's head, wrestling Kuroko around and shoving his basketball partner to start walking away from the school. Although, the altercation could barely be called wrestling since it was always so easy to manhandle Kuroko – he hardly ever resisted Kagami pulling him this way or that.

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko admonished and pushed the arm away from his head. Kagami let it fall back to the school bag at his side.

The redhead let out a long-suffering sigh. "Saying things like that is what makes the jokes keep coming y'know!"

"It's nothing to get embarrassed about." Kuroko placated his taller companion, grabbing at the strap of his own bag to readjust it as they walked together, heading towards Maji Burger.

"Right." Kagami shook his head in bewilderment, his cheeks still somewhat dusky at the fact that they had talked about that kind of topic even a little bit. The taller teen thought he could be happy if it never came up again, especially before the new basketball season.

Soon, their customary after-practice meal was situated in front of them in their usual window booth at the chain burger restaurant.

It was when Kuroko was in the middle of sipping the remnants of his vanilla shake and Kagami was onto his second-to-last cheeseburger when the subject reared up again.

"I think even if we were a couple nothing would change." Kuroko stated matter-of-factly, as if Kagami hadn't already decided that that particular conversation was to be locked away behind a massive door never to be broached again in the light of day.

Kagami blinked once, hard, and the heat returned to his face. "Are we still talking about that!?" He glared at Kuroko wildly, but the blue-haired teen just stared back unconcerned.

A loud slurp through a plastic straw and the gaze of two large unfathomable blue eyes was the only reply Kagami got.

Kagami huffed and took a gigantic bite out of his burger, chewing as he struggled to think of something to deter from the topic. "...A lot would change!" He settled on, swallowing and immediately regretting that he definitely hadn't succeeded in changing the subject. He took another bite of his food, chewing at the slow pace of a doomed conversationalist.

"Hm, you're right. We would have to hug and kiss." Kuroko amended, fiddling with his straw to try and get the last of his shake. "But Kagami-kun is afraid of kissing."

"I—What!?" Kagami choked, his face abruptly turning a funny purple at Kuroko's usual brand of blasé comments. Obviously the shorter teen was referring to his reactions to Alex's "greetings" (if you could loosely call them that), where she would shamelessly kiss her pupil. No matter what anybody said that was TOO MUCH even for American standards, let alone Japanese. But that didn't mean he was afraid!

"I am not!" Hamburger spittle flew from Kagami's mouth. "I would be able to do that!"

Kuroko calmly brushed a speck of hamburger from his hand. "Kagami-kun can do many amazing things, but I must disagree on this one. He would definitely not be able to kiss me."

Something about the way Kuroko said that in such a factual tone of voice caused Kagami's hackles to rise. Lately, at least, Kuroko would soften his verbal (and occasional physical) jabs with some sort of compliment when they bickered. But still, Kagami had his dignity. He had faced off against those monsters of the Generation of Miracles and come out on top, together with Kuroko. The implication that he couldn't do something so... so simple, after managing the monumental feat that was the Winter Cup in their first year made him seem like he was just seven kinds of ridiculous.

"I have noticed that Kagami-kun's weakness lays with things as mundane as physical affection and small puppies." A small smile upturned the corners of Kuroko's mouth.

Kagami stared across the booth at the coy expression on his friend's face and it suddenly dawned on him that the bastard was taking his own turn at teasing Kagami!

No way.

That just took the proverbial cake. It was bad enough the rest of the team occasionally ribbed him about the nature of his feelings for Kuroko, but now Kuroko was doing it too!? It was only fair that Kuroko be the one to take a little embarrassment from time to time!

What were Kuroko's weaknesses anyway? Doing more than ten laps at a time certainly almost always did him in, but – no! That was small everyday stuff and it wasn't like Kagami hadn't seen Kuroko wiped out after tough practices enough already to be more exasperated than amused by it.

Kuroko's true soft spots were relegated to painful memories involving his junior high days and the Generation of Miracles... And of course Kagami would never taunt his friend about that.

A slurp drew Kagami's attention directly to wide blue eyes. "What are you scheming, Kagami-kun? Trickery isn't a good look for you."

Kagami narrowed his eyes. He knew, he just knew, if Kuroko had Nigou here right now he'd already be trying to place the dog on him to freak him out. No way, he wasn't budging this time. This was going to be the first time Kagami won one of their useless quarrels!

"Hmph." Kagami leaned back in the booth and made a show of crumpling a burger wrapper into a ball, wadding it up. "Kuroko. You're completely wrong."

That statement made Kuroko finally pause in his battle to suck the now non-existent vanilla milkshake through his abused straw.

Kagami locked eyes with his teammate, lifted his hands and effortlessly shot the wadded up wrapper into the trash bin by the booths opposite to the one they sat at.

Kuroko didn't have to follow the graceful arc of the garbage with his eyes to know that it had gone into the receptacle perfectly. "Kagami-kun is looking intense."

"Kuroko. Let's bet."

"About you being afraid to kiss me?" Kuroko questioned, eyebrows raised in the barest of movements.

Kagami faltered but plowed on determined to not let Kuroko's unabashed attitude dissuade him. He only vaguely wondered when it had changed from 'afraid of kisses' to 'afraid to kiss Kuroko' in their squabble.

"If YOU make the most baskets," Kagami nodded towards the mountainous heap of burger wrappers and the garbage bin. "Then I'll... kiss you." Kagami glanced away briefly, unable to stop the swath of red that swept over his cheeks at the promise.

Kuroko stopped still, suddenly blinking rapidly. His fingers dug into his empty drink container, scrunching it a tiny bit. The blue haired teen's lips then parted as if he were either going to say something or mistreat his straw again.

"BUT." Kagami continued, and Kuroko flinched slightly.

"If I make the most baskets, then you," Kagami poked a finger across the table onto Kuroko's forehead, before jerking it towards himself. "...have to kiss me. You act like it'd be so simple. Afterwards you can't ever say I'm the scaredy-cat!"

Kuroko paused; gaze cast downward, his fingers finally sliding away from his empty paper cup before whatever skeleton that had momentarily darkened his closet vanished and he peered over at his friend, eyes wide. "How is the outcome any different—?"

"Oi, I'm not going to make it easy for you! If you think I'm gonna stoop down for you to plant one on me, you're wrong!" Kagami made a fist and pounded the booth table, slouching back in his seat to glare at Kuroko.

Kuroko took the brunt of the bellow easily and shrugged one shoulder dismissively. "Then, I would just kiss Kagami-kun somewhere else."

A wadded up burger wrapper hit Kuroko in the face.

"Don't say things like that!" A full on blush covered Kagami's suddenly truly terrifying face. "You make it sound like you want to kiss me!"

"..." The two stared at each other for a moment.

When Kuroko didn't correct him one way or the other, Kagami shoved half the pile of his discarded burger wrappers to his shadow's side of the table. "Let's go."

Kuroko grimaced, but began crushing the paper into balls alongside his friend. "Kagami-kun will win."

Kuroko's shooting average wasn't any secret, especially with their coach's analyzer eye and Momoi's perfect data collection. Everyone knew that was one of his weaknesses' and Kagami was going to make him face it just like Kuroko was making him face his.

"It would be fairer for the winner to be decided by Kagami-kun taking all the shots. If you miss one then we could declare me as the winner."

"Yeah right." Kagami snorted, not willing to be swayed by Kuroko's persuasive sweet-talk. He took his first shot and it went in without fail. Kagami grinned and looked at Kuroko. "All's fair in love and basketball."

Kuroko eyed Kagami's elated grin before he slowly smiled back. "It's true; you taught me how to love basketball again." The phantom frowned in concentration, shooting his first wrapper. It hit the edge of the garbage bin and fell to the floor.

"HAH!" Kagami punched the air.

Kuroko sighed. "But, I'm not so sure I love Kagami-kun right now."

Kagami chuckled and took five perfect shots in a row. "Why would you love me anyway?"

Kuroko grabbed another ball from his pile and tilted his head in consideration.

"You're going to be the best player in Japan." Kuroko stated, shooting and missing.

Kagami raised a split eyebrow. "We will." He corrected. What the hell was this? Kuroko sounded like he was trying to argue a point about something.

"You're fun to tease." Kuroko continued.

"Oi!" Kagami's eyebrow twitched. He tossed the rest of his balled up wrappers in rapid succession, making all of them in.

Kuroko pursed his lips slightly at that impressive display and kept going with his dwindling pile.

Miss. Miss. Miss. Point!

Kuroko smiled at finally making his first basket. The next wrapper he picked up and tossed between his hands, seemingly weighing his next choice of words.

"You're attractive."

Kagami's head whipped around to stare at Kuroko. His ears started to feel hot. His school uniform suddenly felt too itchy. "Hey... quit that!" Kagami protested.

This had really just started as a way for Kagami to win a point against Kuroko in their constant friendly fire of banter, but... it was definitely taking a direction their talks had never gone before.

Kuroko took another shot and it skirted the rim of the bin before falling in to get him a second point. He smiled at Kagami in earnest at that.

Kagami froze, stuck in the gravitational pull that was Kuroko's happy face. It was too late now. Like when Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell out of the sky and down into the abyss of an ocean. Like a moth to the burning of a flame. Like light and shadow.

All of a sudden the shorter teen was revealing things in Maji Burger after school of all places (Kagami's apartment balcony the night before an important game notwithstanding).

"But above all that, Kagami-kun you are a true friend."

Kuroko missed his last shot and he huffed out a breath while Kagami just sat immobile staring at his best friend.

A small pile of litter had collected around the floor of the garbage bin, and a Maji Burger employee who always worked that shift shot the pair a glare, turning around to presumably get the manager.

"Oi, maybe we should get going." Kagami barrelled to his feet and Kuroko followed quickly at his heels as they bee-lined for the exit to the fast food restaurant.

The whoosh of the afternoon air hit them as they headed down the sidewalk together, Kagami jamming his hands into his pants pockets.

Kagami had won their little shoot out, but at the same time he wasn't sure what he had managed to win. Somehow in the grand scheme of strange circumstances he had ended up agreeing to receive a kiss from Kuroko, although he hadn't suspected Kuroko might be genuinely interested in going through with it for reasons other than satisfying a bet. Kagami also hadn't expected to...want him to.

Kagami felt flustered. Kuroko could be damn charming when he put his mind into it. A couple hours ago Kagami didn't want to hear anything to do with his feelings about his 'better half'. Now, his red eyes kept glancing down at Kuroko's mouth traitorously.

"Uh, Kuroko..." Kagami began as they walked down the street. "Back inside, were you saying that you..." He trailed off.

Kuroko's clear blue eyes found Kagami, looking up at the taller teen.

"That I—?"

"Never mind." Kagami muttered.

And of course Kagami wanted to kick himself. Maybe he was afraid. If he ever said the same things that Kuroko could without batting an eye a door might open that could never be closed again.

There couldn't be anything worse than baring your feelings and discovering you let the wrong person in.

With that thought, Kagami felt like the wind got knocked out of him and he suddenly sat down with a thump on a bench they had just passed. Of course. Kagami had never been one for eureka moments, but there if there was one thing he knew, he would never dream of repeating to Kuroko what the Generation of Miracles had done to him.

Kuroko might not be his first kiss, and he might not have been Kuroko's first light, but right now everyone could see they were two halves of one whole and there was really no real reason to be embarrassed...

Kuroko had stopped walking when Kagami sat down, and the blue haired teen backtracked until he stood in front of his partner, looking down with a questioning expression.

"Is Kagami-kun benched already? I thought we were going to the street court to play one on one?"

Kagami stared up and felt his chest fill to the brim with a rush of fond affection for his shadow.

"Yeah we will, but aren't you going to do it?" He scowled as a force of habit to try and keep any kind of blush at bay.

Luckily Kagami didn't have to explain what 'do it' meant, as Kuroko sat down beside him. "I thought you said you wouldn't make it easy for me?" Kuroko's voice held a bit of amusement to it.

"I figured we should just get it out of the way!" Kagami's hair nearly stood on end as he hastened to defend his change of tune. The taller teen forced himself to calm and put on his game face. "So. Go on."

Kuroko's gaze slipped down pointedly to his mouth and Kagami tried to hold still under the scrutiny, although he ended up licking his lip in a nervous habit anyway.

Kuroko mirrored the movement and suddenly they were both staring at each other's mouths.

For a long moment nothing happened.

"See? Not so easy is it?" Kagami muttered, an anxious buzz growing in his stomach to his fingertips.

Kuroko shook his head slightly, eyes still glued on Kagami. "It's not that, I just never..."

Kagami slouched a little closer. Kuroko's eyes went half-lidded and Kagami felt his do the same.

He could imagine Kuroko's pale lips pressing to Kagami's and staying there, their chins and noses brushing lightly, really vividly, in a way he had never let himself think about before. The thought stuck, and he decided that maybe it would be ok to leave that door open from now on. There wasn't anyone else in the world he would rather step through it with.

Kagami's eyes were almost closed, but Kuroko never closed the distance.

"..." Kagami's fierce eyes screeched open.

Kuroko had a hand over his mouth and appeared to be deep in thought. "On second thought, I can't just kiss Kagami-kun at his command."

Kagami flushed scarlet. "What!?"

"I lost our bet, so it's got to be more difficult." Kuroko stood up and took the basketball that had been at Kagami's side, spinning it deftly in his hands.

"Wait. That's not fair! Kuroko!" Kagami could not believe him. "What are you planning to do, surprise me?"

"Perhaps. After all, you shouldn't go easy on your opponent. That's our playing style isn't it?" Kuroko's lips curved into a small smile and he passed the ball back to Kagami. "And all's fair in love and basketball."

End.