OH WOW.

Oh my.

Now that's what I would call a sex GOD, thought Kuroko, as he mentally drooled over the tall guy with the two toned hair and split eyebrows who was standing in line a few agonizing feet away from him.


Kuroko had started working in the local kindergarten as soon as he had graduated from college. He had previously worked there part time during college which enabled him to shift from part time to full time quite smoothly. He had taken on babysitting jobs as well to earn extra money during college which he hadn't let go of even after graduating. He had discovered to his great delight that he had a special kind of magic with kids, infants and pets alike. They all seemed to calm down whenever he was near. The fellow teachers there considered him a role model in babysitting. Even the brattiest kid on the block would behave like a tame puppy when beside him.

He had started writing short stories for kids when all the stories in the small library of the kindergarten had run out. And soon what had started as a hobby turned into a full on passion for writing. He wrote stories of princes and princesses, of castles and dungeons, of fun and craziness and mischief, of dreams and wishes with morals and ethics mixed in them; he even wrote books on care and nurture of infants, children and pets. He became their famous storyteller and parenting counselor.

He was greatly encouraged by his friends to pursue writing parenting books as a career. He had his best friends Kouki and Shige to thank for putting in long hours of researching, outlining, typesetting and editing the entire thing before the book even reached the first stage of a pulpy manuscript. When the publishing company had accepted his manuscript, he was overjoyed. His stories were going to be published and nothing could equal the happiness that he felt that day.

He had started small and as in all businesses, his first outing had been less than remarkable. But he didn't give up and this fueled him to gradually but steadily make it to the top. Now at the age of thirty, he became a family favorite author for children's stories and his popularity as a parenting guru made him a household name.

He, however, remained bound to reality. After all, he knew, fame was but a fleeting breeze. In every book that he wrote, he would thank the people that made it possible from the bottom of his heart: his first best friend and colleague Shigehiro, his second best friend, brother in law and florist Kouki, his cousin brother and World Shogi champion Seijuro, and all the others who had provided their valuable inputs in making every book of his an actuality.

He knew that without their constant support, motivation, encouragement, kind words, gestures and most of all, faith in him, he wouldn't be where he was today. Thus with every book he strove for improving on what was lacking in the previous one and made sure that he delivered on his promises.

He wrote on actual facts based on extensive research and also from real life experiences. His books became a success mainly because of the stories and anecdotes in them about actual couples that made people connect to it on a real level. It made them feel that its okay to be scared, its okay to not know anything, its okay to learn at any age, its okay to lean on others, and it was definitely okay to make mistakes and learn from them. He observed all of his friends' families for writing material to the point that after the seventh book was published both Shintaro and Seijuro forbade him from "spying" on the antics of their children. Not that it had stopped him. He personally thought they just didn't want people to find out that they had both lost in the face pie eating contest to their kids or the fact that they had been tricked into entering the contest in the first place by Kouki and Kazunari. To be fair, that incident, when it had gotten published spiked the sales through the roof.

The times when the children fell sick, the times they brought a sense of joy, the times when their shenanigans went a bit too far, the worry, the anxiety, the panic, the helplessness, the happiness, the tears, the heart-swelling moments, the care, the solutions to multitude of problems, the too-soon-too-fast-too-precious-moments of their childhood, he wrote them all.

However, being the only person among his small group of friends who was still single at the spectacular age of thirty, sometimes he felt loneliness creep up on him. He wondered whether by writing what actually was a live journal of others' family life, fate had decided to make play the role of guardian throughout his life, but he would feel his instinct politely telling him that he WILL meet a person who will make him feel as precious as Kouki made Seijuro feel. The bond that these couples shared was something he could only fantasize about. Sometimes they communicated via nothing but their eyes, and when he happened to see that it made him feel like intruding on a very private moment. Oh, how he wanted to have a conversation with someone with just a few meaningful glances!

Intimacy evaded him as well. The last time he had kissed a woman was Satsuki when they graduated together from high school and that had felt so wrong to say the least. He had gone on dates with a few men after that but it had never felt right. He eventually started resigning himself to the fact that yes, he was to play the role of an adorable, lovable, babysitter and godfather to his friend's children and nothing more.

It had been years and so many books and failed dates since then that he had lost hope entirely. He was not going to wallow in self pity though. He was a little disappointed, a little envious of what others had and he did not, but he was mostly grateful that he got to spend majority of his time with the lovely children that enrolled in the kindergarten. And it was not like he was not loved; he received fan mail from many many parents thanking him for his helpful advice and children who went Kuroko sensei~ every time he stepped into the classroom.


Whenever he wrote a new book, he was meant to publicize it by going on a book tour and attending signing events at the local libraries. So here he was, on the last leg of the tour, sitting inside the cozy library of his hometown Tokyo, wearing a suit given to him as a birthday present by Ryouta, glasses that made his cyan eyes look even bigger, perfectly combed hair, polite smile on his usually expressionless face, fantasizing about the burgundy haired guy who was stepping up in line to stand in front of him and get his book signed.

He had noticed the guy as soon as he had entered the hall where he was seated. He was HUGE; almost the same height as Daiki but bulkier than him. His face had a permanent scowl etched upon it that made him look like he was going to kill someone, but he had a feeling that the guy was as harmless as a kitten. It wasn't his fault he was born with a scary face. He had funny eyebrows too; they were split and all of this made him look like a scruffy wild cat. He looked about his age too, if not older. His red eyes were watchful as he carefully made his way through the throng of people taking care as to not jam into others accidentally. He had on black T-shirt and dark blue jeans that hugged his muscular (godly) frame really well. He wore basketball shoes that he recognized as the same brand as Daiki's.

The guy seemed to have a particular book in mind as he quickly made his way over to a particular aisle and picked a book from the top shelf. When he reached for it, Kuroko noticed that, he didn't have to stand on his toes, his shirt had shifted slightly to reveal more drool-worthy abs (OMG, he licked his lips for they were suddenly very dry), the biceps on his arms flexed (oh my) and he thought he was a goner.

Now those were GUNS.

Was he getting aroused just by staring? That awoke him a little. This certainly was a matter to mull over. Was it a natural and healthy reaction to this particular but extremely attractive male or was he so starved that anything would do to quench his thirst?

No. He might have been in the desert for so long but he has NEVER felt this way towards anyone else. All the guys that he had previously dated had deemed him asexual and even when he wanted to correct them, he couldn't find the words. What could he say when he was doubting himself at not able to feel anything? But this two-tone-haired hunk of a tiger had just made his skin tingle just by standing there near the bookshelf ten feet away. He had then picked up one of his books instead and came to stand in the line while reading it.

He is in the line, he is in the line, his mind chanted like an entranced puppy. He couldn't control the smile that started to spread on his face. And after what seemed like the slowest minutes in the history of time, donning on a polite smile for nameless strangers as he signed their books with their desired dedications, finally, finally, the gorgeous redhead came to stand in front of him. No. He towered over him.

With anticipation, fear, nervousness, excitement and so many other feelings that he couldn't care to name, he offered a hand for the book with a small smile, "Hello. May I?"

"Uh, yeah! Here, thanks! You write pretty great! Makes it easier to understand. I was saved by it many times. Works with the kids like as if I put a spell on them or something. Heh."

He had a deep, gruff voice that made him feel hot all over. He was shuffling his feet a little, scratching his cheek with his forefinger, not meeting his eyes and OH, was that a blush?

But why?

When Kuroko let the words sink in, he felt his throat tighten. Painfully. The guy had kids. He was taken. Taken. The one guy that he was beginning to fall for, if not already fallen for, was taken. He felt his insides churn and twist and writhe as the words resounded in his head again and again.

Years of schooling his expression came to his rescue when all he wanted was to scream and cry angry tears as he threw random things at the wall. He donned another professional smile, which even to him, felt fake and cold and lowered his gaze from the blazing red irises and asked,"Oh, then shall I make it to your family? I would require their names though."

"Oh. Oh! Kagami. Kagami Taiga. Uh, I don't have a family or anything. I am firefighter mostly, but I help out at the local orphanage as their cook. So that's where all the brats come from. They kinda make my life hell. Ha ha. Don't take that the wrong way, I prefer a life in hell with them than without them...sir. They are adorable and I love them to bits but they make me really mad every time they play pranks or something. And yeah, reading your books helped me a lot in being with them without losing my mind, i guess. Except for singing though. When i sing, they start crying...", he said with a nervous laugh as he rubbed his neck and looked down at his toes.

Good. For if he had looked at him then, he would have surely seen the mask slip and reveal an embarrassing blush. Really, his overthinking mind has to be cursed for all eternity. Relief had washed over him like a tidal wave when the guy had finished his short speech.

The redhead was a freaking ANGEL. He had practically fallen down from the heavens above. There was no other explanation to it. A do-good-fireman who helped out at the orphanage was a freaking HERO! And he appeared all gooey and shy which made a totally delicious cinnamon roll.

OH MY GOD?! Where was he all his life? He went thirty years of his life without knowing that his angel was working only ten blocks down? He would have set his own house on fire, if he had known that the angel would swoop down and rescue him. Dammmnnn.

This time he smiled, the warmest he had ever, and quickly wrote what he wanted on the title page of the book and handed it to the captivating redhead, "Here you go, Kagami-kun."(that name sounded so perfect when he voiced it. No. not perfect. It felt right.),"Thank you for your constant support. For anything you need, you may look it up in this book. I am expecting to hear from you soon. Thank you."

"Thanks a bunch, man! You are cool. Bye now! Lunch hour is up."


Kagami turned and apologized the person standing behind him for taking too long and proceeded his way down the hall. The author was extremely cute and attractive with those huge bottomless pools for eyes and pert nose. He was looking so so pale and fragile during the conversation that he worried whether he had offended him or something. But soon, he had smiled and it wasn't one of those fake ones he was using before; his eyes had smiled too. For some inexplicable reason, it had made his heart beat its way out the rib cage. That moment all he had wanted was to hug the life out of him, then make him food to put some meat on those bones of his. The cute guy had, in that soft voice of his that somehow reminded him of a gentle breeze, said he was expecting to hear from him. What was that supposed to mean? He looked at the book in his hand and flipped it over to the title page. There, written in that blue pen in a neat handwriting, was something that made him stop dead on his track;

To, Kagami Taiga-kun,

With love,

Kuroko Tetsuya (XXX - XXXX)

PS: Dinner would be lovely.

He slowly turned around with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He just knew his jaw was slack now and shock was written all over his features.

The teal haired male gave him an imperceptible nod and a small smile when he met his eyes; he doesn't know how but he somehow just knew that the guy was smirking at him. He felt his face heat up to match his hair and he saw that the author also had a light pink dusting his cheeks that he found totally enchanting.

Somewhere in his heart (whatever it told, he followed since he had found that he was happier that way), he felt that this might be the best day of their lives. EVER.