I love you.
Three words, one smile, and a naive boy. Tetsuya mentally sighed as he remembered the days when he felt so happy, blinded by that so-called happiness that made him think he couldn't feel any pain anymore, that he wouldn't feel the familiar clench in his chest anymore, that he wouldn't feel isolated and alone anymore, that he wouldn't have his heart broken anymore. Releasing another sigh, he continued walking aimlessly around the busy streets of Tokyo, isolating himself from the rest of the world. "Rui, let's go!" The Kuroko glanced to his side, finding a group of middle schoolers having fun at the usual store he and his teammates always went to. Well, used to. It felt nostalgic, and it made his heart ache. Deciding that it was enough staring, Tetsuya turned away and gripped on the straps of his school bag tightly, walking away in a much faster pace.
Faster and faster, until he realised he was running away from nothing. He stopped at a park, making his way to the playground and sitting down on one of the swings the city had provided for nearby children who wanted to play and have fun. Funny, he thought, I don't even remember when was the last time I had fun. He stared at the ground, his eyes reflecting nothing but pure sadness. "It's over," he whispered.
Running through the court, the orange coloured ball went into his line of sight. In an instant, the tealhead merely tapped the ball with the tip of his fingers - though hard enough to make it turn at another direction - and passed it to his light; Aomine Daiki. Catching the ball, Aomine immediately made a dunk, making the opposing team stare at him in awe. The tealnette ran towards the other male, fist bumping him. "Nice pass," Aomine said. "Nice dunk," was Kuroko's reply.
He raised both of his hands, covering the lower portion of his face as his shoulders began shaking just slightly, enough to make it obvious that he was trying so hard not to cry. "It's.. It's all over.."
"Kurokocchi, so mean!" The blond whined, trying to hug a certain boy who was attached to the book he was currently reading. "You're noisy, Kise-kun." The latter commented, which made Kise feel offended. Bringing his knees to his chest, he buried his face in between them and began muttering something almost inaudible for who knows how long. But he was unaware that actually, Kuroko was trying to hide his laughter after seeing such reactions. He then leaned against the other's shoulder, closing both his book and his eyes. "Kise-kun is like a puppy; he needs constant attention and love," the Aquarius commented.
"Why?" He suddenly asked. Kuroko gripped the chains tightly, all of his frustration slowly turning to wet, salty tears and making their way down his pale cheeks. "What did I do wrong? All I wanted was — for us to be together, what was so wrong about that? Did I make a mistake along the way?" He began furiously wiping away the tears with his sleeves, at the same time trying to figure out just what the hell was wrong with him.
"Tetsuya," a voice called. Raising his head, he saw the same ocean blue eyes staring right back at him. His twin stared at him with such sorry eyes, Tetsuya wanted nothing more than to scream his heart out. He wanted to push his brother away, he wanted to tell him to get lose. He wanted to release all of his frustration. "He hurt you, didn't he?" The elder asked, but the Teiko student didn't respond. Instead, he looked away and gripped on the swing's chains. That's all it took for Takumi to know he was right. Sighing, the elder brother made his way towards the latter and wiped the tears with his thumb, kissing his twin's forehead before pulling him into a tight embrace. "Everything is going to be alright, don't worry. As long as we're together," he smiled, "everything will be okay," Tetsuya ended the latter's sentence, as if in sync. "Let's go, the dance lessons are about to start," said the elder twin. Nodding, the younger stood up, making sure his face wasn't glazed of salty tears anymore.
I wanted to be the prince in our perfect fantasy,
But the poison apples we shared locked me in eternity,
After dark, it was chaos — I had a steel heart,
I was a voodoo doll constantly getting ripped apart!
"Alright, take five!" Said the leader of the group, which was none other than Kuroko Takumi. He was currently in a dance studio with his four other members. Those who were the members with Takumi were Kuroko Tetsuya, Kazehaya Seiji, Kisaragi Yuki and Kiryū Shiro. It was definitely ironic that all of their surnames began with the letter "K".
Kazehaya Seiji. He is at the age of 17, being the eldest of the group. Seiji has blonde hair with matching topaz eyes. His mother works as a model while his father works as a movie director; Not only is he the eldest in the group, he is the eldest son in their family of five. He always takes care of his juniors, making him quite close with each and every one of them. The juniors often refer him as either Sei-nii or Sei okaa-san, since he was such a mother hen.
Kisaragi Yuki, age 16. Yuki has dark black hair, his bangs dyed to a slight crimson with matching dark brown eyes. His parents' occupation were as actors, though they usually executed their work outside of the country. Being an only child, he tries to have his group mates meet ever so often just so he could hang out with them, even if it meant deadly training from the Black Demon King — I mean, Takumi.
Kiryū Shiro, age 15, the same age as Tetsuya and Takumi. He has white, snowy hair and grey eyes. Although they are the same age, he's a few months younger, making him the youngest of the five. Even as the youngest, he preferred not making people do his work — probably to show he was responsible — unless it was necessary. He gives nicknames to all of the members, with an excuse that their names were too 'boring.'
Although the five of them has different personalities, they got along quite well. That is, after a few months of being with each other. From Tetsuya's point of view, Seiji was a kind older brother/mother — just like Takumi, Yuki was the brother with a foul mouth and Shiro was the youngest (and often spoiled) sibling of the bunch. But to him, they were his everything.
"Practice is hard as always," Yuki commented, taking the water bottle that was on the floor near the corner and drinking from it. "Sit down when you're drinking, Yuki." Seiji frowned, wiping his sweat with his towel. Yuki rolled his eyes in response, muttering a soft apology before walking towards the window, leaning against its frame. "The fact that we're only a few months from debuting is still unbelievable," He muttered, looking up and staring at the full moon. Seiji smiled at his words, walking towards him and leaning against the wall right next to where Yuki was standing. "It's exciting, isn't it? We've been here since we were kids and we're finally getting our debut."
"Hey Tsuya-kun," Shiro called Tetsuya, "when are you going to give the letter? The registration letter for the basketball team, I mean. Haruko-san told us to resign from our respective clubs 'cause the company will drop us out of our current school and enter us in a private idol school, right?" Haru-chan – or Haruko, – was their manager, and Tetsuya often saw her as a mom like Seiji, only more of a worrywart. The tealnette looked at him for a good few seconds before turning away, "After the Finals are over."
"And the Finals are in... two months, right?" Seiji asked, and Tetsuya nodded. Then his gaze fell back to the floor, the atmosphere in the room began to morph to an uncomfortable and bleak tension. "The basketball club just isn't the same anymore," the second youngest said before anyone even asked. "It's crumbling to bits, and that makes me quite sad," Kuroko murmured, his head hung low. Before he knew it, the four other members sat down on the bench beside him, their usual smile plastered on their faces.
"Don't worry," Seiji reassured him, a pat on his head.
"Everything is going to be fine," Yuki said, a pat on his back.
"Even if the whole world turns away," Shiro smiled, holding both of his hands.
"We'll always be here, beside you." Takumi ended it, as they all gave him their warmest smile. Kuroko couldn't help but smile back.
"I'm back with snacks!" The door suddenly opened, revealing their manager; Asahina Haruko. The manager was a woman in her late-twenties. She has beautiful brown hair with matching hazel eyes. She looked at her boys, the smile fading and was replaced with a worried expression. "Is something wrong? Tetsuya, are you alright? Are you sick? Did these brats hurt you?" Haruko immediately walked towards him, pushing the members away and holding the tealnette in her arms. She then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. "Oh, my little Tetsuya needs love! Don't worry, mommy Haruko will take good care of you!"
"Oi, Haruko! You can't just come barge in and take away Tetsuya whenever you feel like it!" Yuki growled, pointing at the woman who was completely ignoring his words. "That's right, Haru-chan! Learn how to share!" Shiro agreed with the second eldest of the group, but was then silenced when Haruko glared at the two, "Shush."
"Yes ma'am."
Takumi and Seiji watched the scene in amusement, the studio was always so lively whenever everyone was there. The older twin then went to his younger brother, whispering in his ear, "Don't overthink about it, it's not good for you." He smiled, ruffled his hair and stood up properly, clapping his hands twice to get everyone's attention. "Shall we continue practicing?" The leader asks, and everyone nodded almost at the same time. "Okay, one last round!"
The Kuroko twins were currently in their family's limousine, having a nice long chat. "Aren't you coming home to the mansion?" Takumi asked, and the latter shook his head in response. "I'll still stay in the apartment until after the Finals. Besides, Mother and Father are still in Australia. They won't be back until next month." The younger replied, which made the other sigh. Honestly, he was worried about his younger brother living separately away from him, but Tetsuya already promised that he'd be alright, so... "Fine. But if anything happens, I'm going to drag you back home."
Arriving at his apartment, he got out of the limousine and walked upstairs, taking out the key and unlocking the door before entering the small apartment. Kuroko placed his school bag on the couch, walking to the kitchen to make himself supper. While waiting, he went to the living room, taking out his photo album. Opening it, he stared at the pictures in the album, memories of those times where he and his teammates were still together as a team began to resurface inside his confuzzled mind. "I wonder when was the last time I saw them smile..." He murmured, tears beginning to prickle by the corner of his eyes.
Suddenly, he smelled something burning. Tetsuya closed the album and walked towards the source of the smell, only to find that half his kitchen was caught on fire. He immediately ran to his room, trying to put all the items that he cherished more than his life inside a bag. He didn't care if he would be burning alive in the fire, if the things he loved was simply going to get burned, might as well get burned together.
Just when he was about to leave his room, he turned around, only to see the fire burning everything in contact, slowly making its way towards the bedroom. Tetsuya felt terrified — earlier, he was just laughing and dancing with his teammates and now he's probably about to die. If he died now, the others were absolutely going to hate him for it. He even promised Takumi he was going to be fine!
He began to scream for help, hugging the items he tried to save earlier closer to his body. But it was a futile attempt. Soon enough, the smoke got a bit too much for him and slowly making his vision and perspective of things, completely blurry and fading. "Someone, help me...!" He tried to yell, but it only came out as a whisper. Closing both of his eyes, he saw someone come in his room before he blacked out.
Opening his eyes, he found himself in a unfamiliar white room. He tried moving his arms and legs, wincing when he felt some kind of painful jolt that went through his whole figure. As painful as it was, Kuroko turned his head to the left, finding all sorts of unknown machinery. After putting the puzzle pieces together, he realized that he was in a hospital room. I didn't die?
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a certain green head. He squinted his eyes, trying to see clearly.
"Kuroko," the man called. Kuroko instantly recognised him from his voice. "Midorima-kun?" He asked. "Where am I? What happened?" He tried sitting down, only to have the bandaged fingers of the latter pushing him down gently to the bed further. "Lie down, you're still recovering."
"You're in my family's hospital. I was walking to your house to see if you were alright, and when I was in front of your door, there was something suspicious. The door was unlocked, and there was a very unpleasant smell coming from the inside. When I opened it, I found that the apartment was on fire. I was going to run down and call the firehouse when I saw your shoes. As a friend, I went inside and found you unconscious in your bedroom." Shintaro replied, readjusting his glasses.
Kuroko looked down, feeling guilty that he almost put his teammate in danger. "I'm sorry..." Was the only thing he could say.
Midorima sighed, placing a hand on the teal locks. "Don't be." Slowly, Kuroko looked up and straight into the emerald orbs before saying, "..My answer is yes. I will go out with you."
But like a devil — I chose sinful ways that were far from right,
I was a snake who wrapped around you way too tight,
Just call me beautiful killer, Hyde and Jekyll, a sinner,
It was my biggest error to stay with you — so let's end it.
"Since your apartment was burned down, you're going to stay with me." Midorima said. The tealnette, who was reading a light novel stopped and looked at the other. "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about it. Besides, I can live somewhere else." Going back to the mansion was an option, but then he'd have to listen to Takumi's lecture about safety. He couldn't find a new apartment at this time. Yuki always asked them to come to his house, so Yuki it is.
"Where?" Shintaro asks, turning to look at the phantom man. "Where can you possibly stay at? Don't even think of lying to me, Kuroko. You live alone in that apartment. No relatives at all. Just shut up and do as I say," he mumbled the last part, avoiding eye contact.
"Midorima-kun, I can't-" Before he could say anything, his mouth was suddenly occupied. Before he realised it, the other was kissing him fully on the lips. Kuroko tried to push him away, only to get pushed on the hospital bed, the kiss deepening. Honestly, that was the first time he felt a kiss that was entirely sickening. He remembered one time during Christmas, he and Takumi were watching some chick flick movie. When the girlfriend started complaining about the boyfriend, he kissed her and Takumi let out a disgusted noise before switching the TV off and asking Tetsuya if they could do something else. When Kuroko asked why he turned the TV off, Takumi answered with, "The boyfriend didn't want to listen to his girlfriend's complains about him. He kissed her, and she stopped. That wasn't love, he just wanted her to shut up."
After a while, they both pulled away, in need of oxygen. The Cancer placed a hand on the other's cheek, caressing it. "You're going to stay with me and that's final." Kuroko didn't argue, even after that, he was trying to catch his breath. When he opened his eyes, Midorima had already left the room.
Entering the mansion owned by none other than the Midorima family, he stared at it in awe, everything in the house looked so beautiful. It wasn't as big as his own mansion — Oh no, he has a bigger one — but going to someone else's home always fascinated him somehow. Not like he was going to admit that.
"What are you looking at? Hurry up and follow me," the teen grunted, taking his boyfriend's wrist and dragging him to the guest room. "My room is just at the end of the hall. If you need anything, you know where to find me." He said before walking out of the room, closing the door with a soft 'click'.
Kuroko placed his things on the floor, walking around the huge room. "Even though my room in the mansion is a little bigger, it's not as beautiful as this.." He merely whispered, sitting down on the bed. Suddenly, his phone vibrated. Taking it out, he looked at the caller ID and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Tetsuya? Are you okay? Where are you? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, don't worry. I'm currently staying at Midorima-kun's house. I'll move back to our house as soon as I can."
"Alright. But we have practice tonight until eleven, can you go out? The schedule changed and our debut might be a little earlier than expected. But I think we're going to be fine, since we've been practicing our heads off."
"Or maybe it's just because of your deadly training."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, eight to eleven?"
"Yeah. See you there."
As the call ended, Kuroko sighed. He glanced at the clock, 5 pm. Getting up, he took everything that he needed before walking towards his boyfriend's room. He knocked on the door, only entering when he heard an almost inaudible 'come in'.
"What is it?" Midorima asked, his eyes glued on the laptop in front of him. "I need to go somewhere. I'll be back before midnight," was Kuroko's reply. He stopped typing and turned to the tealnette, his brows furrowed. "Why? Where are you going?"
"It's very important. I can't tell you, though," Kuroko said, then glanced to the side. Midorima stared at him for a few seconds, then turned back to his laptop. "Do as you please." And with that, Kuroko walked put of the room, wondering if he had somehow offended the greenhead male.
"Tetsuya, are you okay?" Takumi asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're paler than usual." He frowned, hands now on the both side of the younger's cheeks, cupping them and caressing them with this thumb. "Did he hurt you?"
Tetsuya hesitated to tell him, after all Midorima didn't actually harm him or anything. Rather, Kuroko felt a little bit distant with the other and even though they were already somehow intimate to each other to the point of kissing, though Kuroko never had a say in it. "No, not really."
Sensing the tealnette needed help, Yuki decided to speak up, "You can stay at my place if you want, Tetsuya. I don't mind having company. Actually, I want to have company." He offered. "I'll just stay there for a couple more days and I'll stay with you then. Is that fine, Takumi?" Kuroko asked, looking back at at he elder. "Sure, I've got no problem with it. Yuki is lonely, after all." was Takumi's reply.
"Don't you think it's weird?" Shiro asked. "Tsuya-chan gets together with those miracles and they toy with him and his emotions. After a while, they toss him away like he's nothing. And then another Miracle comes and the cycle begins again." Kuroko only flinched in realisation.
Seiji frowned at the youngest's words, he was right. None of the Miracles actually showed Kuroko they wanted a long-term relationship. Rather, it seemed like they wanted to toy with the phantom and see how far they could break him. Noticing that the bluenette had gotten quiet, he then saw Kuroko was shaking. Mom side triggers, he immediately wrapped his arms around the other, whispering soothing words as he ran his fingers through the teal strands. "Stop talking, Shiro. You're going to make him have another anxiety attack."
"You're unbelievable," Seiji murmured.
"Idiot," Yuki blurted out.
"Your menu has been tripled. Go practice and make sure you master all six songs," Takumi said.
"But I'm only performing two songs for the debut concert!" Shiro tried to argue, but decided to do it anyway. Probably since the other group mates were sending him death glares.
It was almost a quarter to midnight when he came back. He walked to his room, yawning as today's practice was a lot harder than the previous ones. Right now, he just wanted to go to his room and sleep, sleep and sleep. He didn't even realise where he was going until he bumped into someone. "Ah, I apologise," He gave a short bow before walking away, rubbing both of his eyes.
"Wait," the unnamed man called, and Kuroko did and turned around. "Are you Kuroko Tetsuya?" Nodding, Kuroko turned to face the man. "I'm Midorima Kento, Shintaro's father." Figures. "I know about your relationship with Shintaro," the tealnette stiffened. "To be honest, I didn't think he would date a boy." Kuroko knew what was going to happen next. "Let me get straight to the point; I want you to leave him alone." Wow, rude.
Kuroko faced him, looking straight into his eyes, staying silent for a few minutes. "I understand that you don't approve of us, Midorima-san. But with all due respect, I wish for those words to come from Midorima-kun himself. If I leave without telling him why, that would be selfish of me." Kento was beet red, how dare this commoner refuse to do what he says.
"However," Kuroko added, "if you are uncomfortable with me staying here, then I will leave. I have a friend who offered me to stay with him, so I will take my leave now." He bowed before leaving the elder male, making his way to the guest room.
When he did open the door, he saw Midorima at the study table. "Midorima-kun? Why are you here?" He asks, but Midorima didn't answer. Kuroko then noticed that Midorima was holding a photo, and then he recognised the photo as the one he took with Aomine when they were still in their first years.
Midorima then suddenly pulled out a lighter and burn the picture, Kuroko standing there for a few seconds, trying to process what the fuck he was doing. When he did, he flipped shit. Tetsuya almost immediately ran towards the greennette and took the photo away, holding it tightly in his hands. It was the only reminder that him and Aomine were once friends, and now, it's gone.
"How could you?" His voice barely came out as a whisper, but it was loud enough for the whole room to hear. "How could you?!" He faced the greenhead male, anger visible in his blue eyes. "Why, you ask?" Shintaro repositioned his glasses, "Because it's useless to keep things like that." That was the last straw. He raised his hand and immediately slapped the latter, not even thinking twice about it.
"Then I guess it's useless to keep this relationship when you think you can do things like this and get away with it." He replied, took his bag and walked out of the room. He met Kento downstairs, but refused to look at him and made his way out and to Yuki's house. When he was far enough, he felt his cheeks get wet and only then realised that he was crying.
Stupid me.
I won't linger around you like a ghost,
This is the real me that I show to you, so go!
Well there you have it. Homophobic dad and stupid-ass fuckboii. sighs.
Special thanks to my saltmate for editing 3 iwtepcbwy
