"Escape this." Aomine's words seemed to echo in the room, bouncing off the tension that filled the air.
Kuroko's eyes widened and his lips parted slightly with no sound coming out. So maybe he had been wrong about how soon Aomine would be able to see an expression of shock on his face.
He had to go a bit cross eyed to see the gun properly, and if the situation had been any different, if it were anything else he was trying to get his vision to focus on, it might have been cute. Instead, he considered taking back his words about Aomine not being a scary person, because the safety was off, and if Aomine's finger so much as twitched on the trigger he would be brain matter on a wall.
"Aomine-kun, put the gun away," Kuroko said in his most calm voice, hoping the emotion would carry and get Aomine into a reasonable state of mind. One that didn't involve a gun in his face.
"Make me. This isn't a game. This isn't just messing around. Prove to me that you're ready to take on the deadliest man in all of Japan." Aomine's gaze never left his target. He was a predator staring at his prey and he would not budge.
"Now. Escape. This."
Kuroko looked torn for a few seconds as he tried to think of a way out. "I... can't," he admitted reluctantly. "Maybe if I had a weapon, but I can't move faster than a bullet. So, get it out of my face."
Aomine held the gun there for a moment longer, then lowered it, thumbing the safety back on. Still, his intensity never lessened. He turned the gun around, offering it to Kuroko, handle first. "I can. Now aim for my heart." Aomine stepped back, leaving the gun on the bed next to them when Kuroko didn't immediately take it, his tone never losing its steel. It wasn't a request. It was an order.
"What?! No! I'm not pointing a gun at you," Kuroko protested, stepping back to place more distance between himself and the gun.
"Pick it up, Tetsuya." There was no hint of emotion in the word. It was the first time he'd ever used Kuroko's full name, but it wasn't teasing or loving. He was talking the way a general would when giving orders to a soldier.
"No," Kuroko firmly refused, taking another step away so that he was out of arm's reach of it. He was a kindergarten teacher. A thief. He didn't need weapons in either job. Certainly not lethal ones. He didn't want to aim that at Aomine.
"The safety is on, Tetsuya." Again, the use of his full name. Kuroko's legs felt weak. "Now pick up the gun and aim."
For the first time since being around Aomine, Kuroko looked nervous. He hesitated, but then moved forward and picked up the gun, looking at the thing that had just been pointed at him, and that he was now supposed to aim at Aomine. Kuroko often thought that the detective seemed to forget that he was actually a criminal that he was playing house with, but right now, Kuroko was thinking that, while Aomine seemed very aware that he was a criminal, he seemed to be forgetting what kind of criminal. The most Kuroko had ever carried on him for defense was a pocket knife.
"If you don't aim that gun right now, I'll take the safety back off and you'll do it that way." Aomine knew what was stopping Kuroko. He also knew how to make him move.
A look of horror flashed across Kuroko's face, but he quickly aimed the gun at Aomine to keep him from doing that, his hands shaking a bit as he stepped forward to ensure his aim.
Aomine stepped forward too, closing the distance even more until the muzzle of the gun was barely a hair's breadth away from his chest.
"Now, what did I tell you to do in this situation?"
"You told me to escape it." The words were quiet, forcibly pulled out of him by his desperation to keep the safety on.
"Speak up. Order me." His voice still hadn't softened, and he didn't seem aware of the trauma he was inflicting on the smaller man.
Kuroko summoned up any anger he could find left in him to force the order out and end the horrible experience sooner. "Escape it," he gritted out.
Aomine didn't bother responding. He whipped his arm out to grab Kuroko's elbow in the same fluid motion as he ducked his body beneath the line of fire. As he continued moving his body so he positioned himself behind Kuroko, pressing his chest to the thief's back, he tightened his grip on Kuroko's elbow, enough to cause pain, but not enough to bruise—barely remembering to keep it light enough for Kuroko to be able to move later. Immediately after, Aomine clamped his other hand down on Kuroko's left shoulder, opposite the right arm that had been holding the gun. He forced Kuroko's right arm so he could pin it behind his back, twisting painfully enough for Kuroko to gasp and drop the gun, the weapon thudding to the ground, punctuating the end of the horrifying experience.
"I escaped." Aomine's voice was almost normal now.
"Aomine-san, please let go of me." Kuroko's voice was a far cry from its usual snark filled tone and wasn't quite as loud as he had intended.
Aomine let go, stepping away and collecting his firearm from the floor.
"Figure me into the heist." He left without another word.
Kuroko collapsed onto his bed. His hands stopped shaking after a few minutes, and it took a while for him to start thinking of anything other than the cold look in Aomine's eyes, the gun aimed at him, or that he was forced to aim at Aomine—the feeling of it pressing against him, and the weight of it in his hands.
But he still couldn't take Aomine in with him. That was too dangerous. And while Aomine could escape a gun just fine, that didn't mean he could get Kuroko out of the way of one. And Kuroko wasn't stupid. He knew, between the two of them, if they were caught, he was the hostage to get Aomine to drop his gun, because he was smaller and thus an easier target.
An idea finally occurred to him, and he took out a scrap of paper and started writing down what he would need. He wrote on the top of the paper "For your part in the plan." He couldn't bring himself to do his usual smiley face at the end of the note like he normally would. He left that in the kitchen as he snuck out. He was getting a vanilla milkshake and Aomine would actually have to pull that trigger to stop him after what he just went through.
The list was an easy thing to take care of. He just passed it off to the department and informed them of his deadline. For the not-so-department-issue tech, he sent word to Akashi to package it with whatever bits of information he was sending along next.
The problem was Kuroko.
Aomine didn't regret anything— except maybe waiting so long to make his point and saving himself the heartache of going back to the beginning. But all that mattered was that the heist would continue and he had made a point that would last well past their first job. It was an important clarification, and, as much as it pained him, he wouldn't doubt his decisions.
He was a detective, and he would do his job.
Still, that damn missing happy face was in the back of his mind.
"One milkshake, please." Kuroko said to a worker when he reached the cafe.
"Kuro-chin~~" Murasakibara called, appearing from the kitchens at the sound of his friend's voice.
Kuroko forced a smile for Murasakibara. "Hello, Murasakibara-kun," he greeted.
Murasakibara moved around the counter at the strained smile. "That looks painful, Kuro-chin," he commented, leading the way to a table in the corner of the cafe.
"What does?" Kuroko asked, following him to the table and taking the seat across from the purple haired man, even though he hadn't gotten his milkshake yet, and he usually waited for that before taking a seat.
"You're not stupid, Kuroko." Murasakibara called him on it, dropping the nickname to convey his seriousness.
Kuroko sighed. "I don't know about that. I think I've been doing something stupid for the past few weeks."
The other man hummed in thought before beckoning a worker over and detailing an order to him. The man disappeared into the back. "We'll need serious treats then," Murasakibara explained. He leaned back so he wasn't so much taller than Kuroko, a gesture he knew was a bit comforting, even if it wasn't very successful in shortening the gap. "Did you do something or did the idiot do it?"
"Both, I guess," Kuroko said with a shrug. "I don't know, maybe it was just me."
"Nah. Cops are always too nosy for their own good. He at least did something."
Kuroko looked up at Murasakibara, finally making eye contact. "I never told you that he was a cop," Kuroko said with a frown.
Murasakibara held up a hand to silence him, seeing the worker returning from the back room, a full tray in hand. "Vanilla cheesecake, vanilla cupcakes, vanilla cream puffs, and chocolate eclairs?" Murasakibara nodded, "And?"
"The first shake will be out soon. I told them two more are reserved."
Another nod from Murasakibara. "No one sits near us. It's late, we shouldn't get too many people." He waved the boy away then turned back to Kuroko, waiting until there was no one in ear shot before responding to the thief's earlier question. "It was a hunch," he paused, picking up an eclair, "You never told me you were a thief either. I figure some things out on my own, Kuro-chin."
Kuroko's smile was a bit less forced this time. "It would certainly seem so," he said, taking a small bite of one of the vanilla cupcakes. "I messed up. I started liking him, and then tonight, we had a huge fight and he took out his gun."
Murasakibara eyed Kuroko interestedly, "He shot you? Wow, Kuro-chin, so strong if you didn't go to the hospital." He didn't seem to register the more important part of Kuroko's words.
"He didn't shoot me." Kuroko shook his head. "But he certainly acted like he might. He turned off the safety and aimed it at my head. And then he made me aim it at him." His hands were shaking again. He put the cake down to hide them under the table.
In placing the plate down, Kuroko missed the ominous expression on Murasakibara's face at the obvious trembling of his hands. But when he looked up, Murasakibara seemed as impassive as always. "What scared you more?" It seemed only a second longer than any ordinary breath, but the pause between that question and the next seemed endless to Kuroko. "Having the gun pointed at you, or holding it yourself?" He asked it directly and unflinchingly, every word seeming to carry an immense weight. He was Kuroko's friend. And sometimes friends forced you to look at things you'd rather forget.
Kuroko had to think about it. The whole situation had been terrifying. He'd let his guard down. He'd become comfortable with Aomine, more than comfortable, and he'd been completely unprepared for this situation. But even though the safety had been on when he'd held the gun, that had been immensely more terrifying than when it was pointed at him, because no matter how dead serious Aomine had looked, Kuroko had known that he wouldn't shoot him. "Holding it. Holding it was worse," he said, looking down at the table.
Murasakibara paused to let that sink in, still munching on his eclair. He waved over an employee bearing Kuroko's milkshake—a girl this time—then promptly shooed her away. Kuroko never raised his head. Murasakibara hadn't asked for himself. He'd asked for Kuroko.
"Go home then."
"I can't. I'd probably be arrested if I don't report back to Aomine-san soon. I—"
Murasakibara shook his head, interrupting Kuroko before he could continue his pity party. "Not that home. The new place you're staying at. Go back, Kuro-chin."
"So eager to get rid of me already?" Kuroko asked, a slight edge of teasing to his tone, before taking a sip of the milkshake.
"Y'know, Mido-chin has a word for that…" he took another bite of his eclair, searching for the term.
"Midorima-kun has a word for everything. He's a know it all," Kuroko replied.
"Eh? That's true. Mido-chin knows lots of words~~" he paused again, still searching, "...ah! 'Deflection'. He says people say stuff to make you stop talking about other stuff." More chewing, then, "Like how you used to play basketball."
"Deflection and misdirection are very similar," Kuroko agreed. "But I was more making a joke than deflecting. I'm trying to get back to normal before I go back like you suggested."
Murasakibara rejected that with a fierce "No" and another shake of his head. "Go home now. Idiots think too much. He's probably a crybaby. What if he's crying, Kuro-chin? You have to go comfort him~~~"
"I doubt he's crying," Kuroko said. He privately thought that Aomine would deserve it a little bit if he was, because Kuroko had been fighting tears since the moment Aomine told him to pick up the gun and aim it at him.
He did get to his feet though. "Can I at least take this with me?" he asked, picking up the shake.
"Are you going home?" Murasakibara motioned over a worker and asked for a few boxes.
Kuroko nodded. "Yeah. All my stuff is there, and I don't feel like getting arrested." Kuroko said. "And I don't need any boxes. You don't have to feed me." He added.
"Hah? But Kuro-chin has to try the cheesecake. It's a new recipe." He eyed the other sweets as he responded, deciding. "I can eat everything else if you want~~"
Kuroko smiled at him and nodded. "Alright, I'll take the cheesecake, but you enjoy the rest of it," Kuroko agreed as the boxes arrived.
They waved goodbye after packing the cheesecake and an extra milkshake to go.
Kuroko did decide to go back to the apartment, but he took the long way there to avoid it for as long as he could. By the time he got there, he'd finished off both milkshakes and thrown away the empty cups.
Aomine was watching the TV when Kuroko came home. He never heard the sound of the door, or any footsteps—even when the ghost tried to sneak past Aomine without him noticing. He did notice the shadow on the wall, though and turned around just as Kuroko was about to pass by.
They stared in silence for a bit before Aomine broke the staring contest, "Didn't think you were coming home." He settled back down onto the couch, breaking eye contact. "Glad you did."
"I didn't feel like getting arrested," Kuroko replied. As soon as the eye contact was broken, he kept walking and went into his room, closing the door behind him.
When he changed for bed, even though he doubted that he would be getting much sleep, he put on his own clothes only before getting under the covers, trying to block out thoughts of what had transpired in this room a few hours ago.
He recognized Aomine's footfalls outside the room and saw the shadow through the crack beneath the door, but turned away, hoping to feign sleep. Aomine cracked open the door as quietly as he was able then closed it, apparently satisfied with a small glance from the doorway.
A few minutes later, Aomine returned to Tetsu's bedroom and slipped a note under the door before heading to bed himself.
I'm not sorry. But I wouldn't let you get arrested.
