title: pride of a momma (1/1)
pairings/characters: kagakuro/seirin,aomine
rating: t
summary: nigou wasn't going to stay a puppy forever and suddenly kagami is desperately wishing for the small demonic thing back

quickie notes: i fucking refuse to believe that nigou is a year old because, at best, he's like two months old with how big he is. /casually tweaks everything so that nigou is actually appropriately aged at two months and his breed is now giant alaskan malamute ! unbeta'd like super woah. thank you for all who read ~

The first time Kagami ever saw Kuroko really cry was when they had to send his dog away. Kagami couldn't say that he was too hung up about the entire thing, - even if he and the dog were okay now, the matter of fact remained that Nigou was still a dog and thus still terrifying - but unlike him, Kuroko was utterly devastated. It seemed that being exposed to a small and adorable Nigou managed to make everyone forget that puppies grew and god damn, did Nigou grow. After a month, it was startlingly obvious that he was not going to get away with things he used to when he was smaller. At an even height of 15 inches and a considerable weight of thirty pounds, Nigou wasn't tiny enough to sneak into the arenas they were to play in and stay hidden in their school gym during practice. When an unsuccessful bath time led to Nigou's exposure to the school board, their principal demanded they either leave him at home or face the disciplinary consequences of bringing an animal to school. It was then unanimously decided that Nigou would stay at Kuroko's home or with Kuroko's kindly neighbor from now on to avoid unnecessary trouble. And for two blissful weeks, everything was okay.

And then Kuroko's parents came home.

Needless to say, Kuroko's mother threw an earth shattering fit that not even Kuroko's pleading, teary, puppy eyed look could calm. His father on the other hand, was weak and suggested they let Nigou live with his brother who lived in a spacious house and better yet, only twenty minutes away by bus. This was not at all satisfactory for Kuroko who threw his own (admittedly adorable) fit. For all his trouble, he only got a condescending pat on his head from his mother and a comforting hug from his father. He called Kagami first, running up the stairs and shutting his door for privacy. He was already sniffling, supremely upset and unsure of what to do. He didn't realize that he was already crying until Kagami's annoyed voice filtered into his head.

"Ku-ro-ko!" Kagami groused irritated.

Kuroko started, sniffing balefully and rubbing at his face miserably. Kagami must heard his sniffles because he responded, hesitant and concerned.

"Uh, Kuroko? Is this you?"

"Kagami-kun," he managed to reply back evenly, but one look at the peacefully sleeping Nigou at the corner of his room had him in under another wave of tears.

"O-oi. Kuroko, are you okay?"

"No, I am not."

It was ridiculously childish of him to be doing this, but Kuroko was unrepentant and curled up in a ball and cried. Nigou, napping quietly, shuffled in his corner but didn't wake and for that Kuroko was thankful.

"H-hey, are you crying? Are you hurt?! Is someone there? Where are you?!"

Another voice sounded behind Kagami's, muffled and fuzzy.

"Shut the fuck up, Ahomine! Kuroko, c'mon just tell me where you are and if I'm going to need to kill someone or not."

Kuroko managed a watery laugh at the thought of a fired up Kagami trying to confront his mother; God, his ass would get handed back to him so hard and fast. He heard a sigh of relief on the other line and smiled - no matter how severe Kagami looked, he was an absolute sweetheart and Kuroko was so very lucky to have him.

"Kuroko? Are you still there?" Kagami's voice was breathless and tinny like he was running. "I'm coming over right now, are you at home?"

"No!" Kuroko exclaimed, and he cleared his throat, completely embarrassed by the fuss he created. "I'm just being silly and you don't need to worry. I'm sorry for calling and interrupting your game with Aomine-kun."

"Too late, I'm a minute away and you better come to the door or I'm breaking in."

"Jesus dude," Aomine's voice came faintly in the background. "Dramatic much? Tetsu's fine… Probably." Here Aomine made strange, ominous noises that had Kagami hissing in anger.

"Agh! You asshole, go away if you're just going to say dumb shit!"

"And miss this? Hell no, I can't wait to see exactly how whipped you are, Bakagami."

There were muffled sounds of a scuffle and a loud yelp of pain from Aomine.

Kagami was especially out of breath as he spoke. "Oi, open the door. I'm outside."

Impatient ringing echoed through his house and he almost fell onto his face in his haste to get to the door before his father or mother did. He thumped down the stairs with Nigou at his heels, wiping furiously at his eyes and face to get rid of any remnants of tears. He slowed to a halt as his father opened the door; he watched with detached amusement as Kagami and Aomine peered inside, looked up and then up and then up - curse the fact that he didn't inherit his father's height.

"Hm, yes? How may I help you?" His father had an arsenal of looks that ranged from friendly and pleasant to pretentious and cold, but this one was new. He looked downright hostile as he eyed the two at the door.

"Is Ku-, uh. Is Tetsuya here?" Kagami asked, apprehensively.

"We're Tetsu's friends." Aomine added belatedly, after his gaping.

There was a moment of silence and Kuroko enjoyed the image of the two sweating and fidgeting under his father's stern gaze.

"Well why didn't you just say so!" His father's face became happy and open in a matter of seconds. "Come in, come in. Do you want snacks? Some tea? Slippers are right by the door. I'll get Tetsuya and you two can wait in the den."

The two shuffled in timidly, spooked by the sudden change in emotion. His father ushered them in, hands on their shoulders, pushing them further inside the house. They meekly made their way to sit on the couch and waited, stiff shouldered and muttering inaudibly at one another. Kuroko felt a stab of pity go through him and he went against his better judgment to go and save them.

"It's alright, dad. We were going to go out." Kuroko was already at the door dragging along Kagami and Aomine by their arms.

"Oh, okay. Don't you want to leave Nigou here? He might get lost out th…-ere." His father trailed off nervously as Kuroko glared - as if he was going to lose any time together with Nigou after the ultimatum his parents just presented him.

"Okay, alright. Come back for dinner." His father waved sheepishly as they left.

Kagami bit his lip, suppressing the urge to crow in happiness.

'It's leaving, praise the Lord!' he thought to himself, eyes bright but face set in a neutral expression. 'Yes yes yes yes yes yes.'

"You're horrible, Kagami-kun," Kuroko's voice inexpressive as usual to everyone but Kagami, who knew just how wrought with grief and accusation it was. "You want him to leave."

Nigou barked in the background, nosing around a basketball playfully, growling when it rolled too far away. Kagami flinched and held his hands up placatingly before his hands went to grasp Kuroko's wrist to stop him from leaving.

"No no!" Kagami tried to convince a teary eyed Kuroko without much success. "I, uh, I love that uh, that thing. Yeah, I really do."

Kagami cowered when Nigou went to sniff at his shoes and Kuroko looked unimpressed and attempted to walk away from the park bench, trying to dislodge Kagami's hands off of him.

"I'm going to sic Nigou on you if you don't let go," Kuroko threatened calmly, despite the fact he was discreetly wiping new tears off of his face.

"I'd be okay with that because I l-love him," Kagami replied, wincing at the thought of Nigou touching him with his doggy paws and looking at him with his doggy face, oh God.

Kagami stood, tucking Kuroko into his arms and resting his chin on the top of his head. It wasn't his fault that Kuroko looked so cute crying and that he, himself, was scared of dogs - who could blame him for so happy when both things benefited him?

"Oi, stop crying, you're so uncute when you cry."

He got a swift jab to his side.

"G-god damn it," he stuttered, clinging tighter to Kuroko. "That hurt, you little shit."

The move was finalized and with no mercy, Kuroko's mother informed Kuroko and the team only had a week left with Nigou. The week passed without much practice being done as they ended up playing with Nigou at the nearest streetball court than anything else. At the end of the week, Riko, Kiyoshi and a thoroughly exasperated Hyuuga threw a party for the soon to be gone canine. Nigou's going away party - though why would someone through a going away party for a dog - was adorable and poignant, and even Kagami felt the bitter stinging of sorrow despite initially lamenting the fact that Nigou's other doggy friends were invited. The party passed with a note of sadness that even cute puppy antics couldn't drown out. Though the party was rather sad, Kagami maintained that the day Nigou had to go was the best day of his life. Apparently, a sad Kuroko was a very clingy and cuddly Kuroko. He spent the day 'comforting' a despondent Kuroko as his parents were off in another country for yet another business trip. ("They don't even the have the decency to say goodbye after kicking him out!" Kuroko griped). Kagami figured that he should feel a little bit of guilt for taking advantage of Kuroko's sadness and getting enough cuddles to last him a lifetime.

"You could at least pretend you're a little sad, you know," Kuroko voice was muffled in the fabric of Kagami's sweater. "Nigou would have been sad if you were the one going away forever."

"Nigou is a dog and can't emote. So I don't think that's fair." Kagami retorted, burying his face in Kuroko's hair.

"He was a very expressive dog." Kuroko maintained.

"Still a dog."

"Please leave my house, Kagami-kun."

"Make me."

Kagami was really really glad Kuroko's parents weren't home.

To be honest, Kagami almost forgot that Nigou existed – after all, it had been a good eight months since he had seen the dog. So he wasn't exactly lying when he said that he was looking forward to seeing Nigou again when Kuroko invited (read: demanded) him to come with the rest of the team to visit Nigou at his uncle's house. He was looking forward to it until he saw how much Nigou grew because holy shit.

"K-k-k-kuroko, what the fuck is that?!" Kagami asked, baffled and fearing for his life.

He was cowering behind an amused Kiyoshi who was discreetly skipping lecture in order to visit the dog. Though, dog would be an inappropriate term to use. Beast, maybe; enormously huge and terrifying beast to be more exact.

"Ara? Kagami-kun, it's Nigou. Can't you tell?"

Kuroko wound his arms around the animal's thick neck, a look of amusement on his face and suddenly Kagami was apprehensive – it was like seeing a baby with a lion, and the juxtaposition of size and danger was heaven high disorientating. Kuroko couldn't even lift the dog anymore considering the fact that it probably weighed more than he did and was over half his height. Nigou barked, low and deep and it was such a difference from the high pitched, adorable barks from before that Kagami cowered unabashedly. Riko fawned and cooed without fear, patting the dog's head fondly. Kagami almost moved out of his fetal position to rip his former coach away from the beast because Riko could probably ride Nigou around now and that was just a scary thought.

"Aren't you a little cutie?" Riko praised, rubbing Nigou's sides and face. "Who's a cutie? You are! Oh yes, you are! You're such a big boy now, Nigou!"

Nigou barked with his usual puppy smile, his enormous tail wagging and probably causing tornadoes with how fast and hard he was waving it.

"Jesus Christ, Kuroko," Hyuuga whistled. "When did he get so big?"

"Oh, he hit his growth spurt a few months back. Apparently Nigou's breed wasn't just a Alaskan Malamute, senpai, he's specifically a Giant Alaskan Malamute so he's not done growing just yet."

Kagami felt his soul leave his body – Lord, help him.

"- and mother finally caved in and is letting me keep him back home."

Kagami only heard the tail end of Kuroko's happy announcement and felt like he was actually going to die. He curled up and waved goodbye to all the time he was supposed to spend at Kuroko's house. Damn, and just when they finally got used to fucking in Kuroko's huge bath. Someone up there really hated him. A wet nose snuffled at his nape and he jumped approximately fifty feet and ran behind the nearest person. Poor Furihata was forced to bear the weight of a frightened Kagami for the rest of the visit. Kuroko was unrepentant and had an absolute ball trying to 'reintegrate Nigou back into Kagami-kun's life'. The seniors shook their head with exasperated fondness at the familiar scene; thankfully, some things never changed.