Light and Shadow
Shadow of an Echo
Chapter Twelve
Crush
The easiest way of waking up a pack of teenaged boys was through food. Kagami working in the kitchen with a little assistance from Kuroko was enough to pull Aomine and Kise out of their warm ball, and soon Akashi was coming out of the bedroom and it took everything the owner of the apartment had not to burst out laughing. He was used to Kuroko's admittedly adorable bedhead, but seeing Akashi with a near exact match was unexpected but all the more entertaining.
If Akashi realized what was running through Kagami's head he didn't comment on it, but that's not to say he didn't have an observation to make, "Don't think I missed you slipping out Tetsuya. I thought we agreed you would stay with me?" He had noticed the bed was cold and the pillow on Kuroko's side was barely used, making it easy to guess it had not been slept in.
"Why didn't you stop me then?" Kuroko asked curiously.
When the only reply was stubborn silence Kagami commented, "You were asleep weren't you? You're just guessing."
"Perhaps," Akashi responded regally, "It does not change the fact that Tetsuya did not wake up in the bed he was intended to fall asleep in."
"Oh relax," Kagami brushed off, "Both our virtues are intact. We didn't do anything but talk and sleep."
"Wait you had virtue to lose?" Aomine asked, still a bit groggy, but not phased a bit by the fact he had been used as a pillow by his old teammate the night before.
Kagami rolled his eyes, "Not like I had a whole lot of opportunity for that to change unless I wanted to get my ass kicked again." Of course as soon as the sentence was over, there was a slowly dawning look of remorse as he realized just what he had said.
Akashi was the first to pounce, "What do you mean by again?"
"Look, just let it go, it's been a couple years since then." Kagami busied himself with making sure he didn't burn the bacon as a way of not looking anyone in the eye without seeming like he was a coward.
A slim hand settled on his shoulder and Kuroko's calm voice was a bit soothing as he spoke, "It's okay to talk about it here Kagami-kun, I think you might discover something important."
If his shadow was asking it of him, Kagami would do it, so he started talking slowly. "I grew up in LA, it's not the gentlest of places," He admitted. "It doesn't take much to spark a fight, you saw what Alex and Tatsuya can do Kise when you found us with Haizaki, learning to defend ourselves was necessary. Only when I messed up there were too many for me to fight alone, and I got pretty beat up before those two got there to help get them off me."
Aomine looked like he wanted to punch something, "How exactly did you mess up?"
"I kissed someone I shouldn't have, in a public place." Kagami still wasn't looking at anyone as he filled plates.
"Not that shit again," Aomine practically growled. "I know how you feel."
That managed to royally piss off Kagami, "How in the hell could you know?" He demanded.
"Shut up and listen damn it," Aomine yelled right back, "I know." He restated with more emphasis. "It happened to me too dumbass."
That brought Kagami up short, eyes shooting up to meet his rival, "What?!"
"You think you're the only one? Please, get over yourself." He ordered. "I'm not gay, but let's just say there are times I'm not above taking advantage of an opportunity." He jerked his thumb towards Kise, "We used to play one-on-one most nights after practice. Sometimes stuff happened afterwards. That night he had nearly beaten me, a one point difference, so he was a bit overexcited and kissed me in the gym instead of the locker room like usual. I was worked up too, and hey he's hot, so I kissed back." That statement made it so Aomine was now trying to ignore a practically sparkling Kise that was undoubtedly preening. "It wasn't a big deal to us, it had happened before, and it wasn't the last time either. The problem was my mom had sent my dad to come get me that night, it was supposed to storm and she didn't want me walking alone on a rainy night. He gave me a good cuff to the jaw, but that's as far as he went physically, just a lot of yelling after that."
"That's it?" Kagami asked suspiciously, sure it sucked, but a single punch wasn't comparing in his head with broken bones.
"Of course not," That was not Aomine, Kise had taken over. "The next day when he came into school with a bruise on his face, rumors flew over who would dare hit Aomine Daiki the Ace player of the school. Aominecchi eventually told the truth when the newest theory was a Yakuza initiation. We were so young then that we didn't realize just how bad some people would take it. It was Murasakibaracchi that rescued him, he was so big already no one wanted to test him, but as soon as we got the story out of Aominecchi I knew it was my fault those morons went after him. I started the whole thing, but if they had attacked me they would have gotten caught sooner and punished much harsher, even then I was always followed by fans during school."
Aomine took control again, "Stop that Kise, you weren't the one throwing punches." He attempted to knock some sense into the copycat before returning his attention to Kagami, "Why do you think I'm so blunt about liking big boobs? I do, don't get me wrong, but I expend a lot of effort proving it."
"What happened to the ones who beat you?" Kagami's hackles were slowly lowering as he realized Aomine really did understand and wasn't just messing around.
"I took care of it," Akashi interjected. "There are several ways to get a student expelled if you are willing to look for them. Getting police involved would have caused issues with the media because we were already getting written up in magazines. We didn't need that kind of publicity."
"It wasn't like I wanted it to get out," Aomine added. "I don't have a problem admitting it to people I know, but there isn't any reason I should have to tell anyone else."
Kagami was now rapidly looking back and forth between the four miracles in his apartment, "You two were really like that?" He practically squeaked getting amused nods, before he rounded on Akashi, "And you covered for them?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Akashi responded testily. "Those two were my players, and thus my responsibility. Atsushi kept the assault from getting so bad we couldn't take care of it quietly, so that's what we agreed to do between us."
Kuroko decided to pick on his Light a bit, both to diffuse the tension, and to help along the process of getting his new life integrated with his old one. "Kagami-kun, no one in this room is straight." He commented, easily hiding his smile from long years of practice.
Once again Kagami put his full attention towards Akashi, he was pretty sure his brain was melting at that point. "Really?" He questioned tentatively.
The smaller red-head sighed, "Yes." He responded, "Why would Tetsuya lie?"
"I, uh, just wasn't expecting it," Kagami attempted to backtrack quickly.
Even Akashi looked amused, "I would have assumed you of all people would understand that not all of us have to stand out, considering you yourself have gone unnoted since your return to Japan. I am comfortable with my sexuality, but I do not broadcast it or my father would be, well, displeased is probably the best word for it."
"Akashicchi was the reason the rest of us felt safe experimenting a bit," Kise added. "We knew if he caught us we wouldn't get in trouble so long as we weren't doing anything too graphic."
"Really Kise? Only a bit? I think it was a lot more than that," Aomine corrected. "Well, okay, to be fair Murasakibara never joined in and Midorima didn't do it very often, for the rest of us though, that was one long experiment."
Kise shrugged with a helpless look and sunny smile, "It wasn't a good idea for me to try anything too forward with the fangirls, I could get in trouble faster than you can say lawsuit. Nothing with them ever went past casual dating, and even then I didn't like taking the chance unless they forced the issue. Hate to say it but Haizaki kind of did me a favor, that girl was particularly determined."
Kagami felt comfortable enough to ask the next question, not knowing it was one his brother had already asked. "So if you aren't straight, what are you?"
"A circle," Kise responded teasingly, only to actually answer the question when Kagami's neck started to turn red in irritation. "I'm the anything goes type, but I already explained why that can be a problem. It's a lot safer if I only really attempt physical things with people I trust, and since the majority of people I trust are male that has been the way things have gone for me."
Aomine decided to butt in, "If you haven't figured it out for me, I like women, but I have made exceptions for a very few males before. I have a very specific type of personality when it comes to them."
"Let me guess, they have to love basketball?" Kagami figured that was a safe guess, considering he had the same tendency.
"That's a start," Aomine admitted, "But they have to play a good game too, I don't like sideliners that never push themselves to be better."
"I don't like admitting this, but we really do think alike don't we?" Kagami was forced to acknowledge.
"Maybe a little bit," Kise poked fun at them with a wicked little smirk, "Especially when it comes to Kurokocchi."
"That's not fair!" Aomine immediately protested, "You're just as bad as we are!"
"Never said I wasn't," Kise was sparkling again, and it made Aomine glower at him.
Akashi was able to silence all of them just by clearing his throat, "This is not a competition and Tetsuya is not a prize."
"Thank you Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded gratefully. Having three of his brighter Lights fighting over him was a little overwhelming.
He was shocked still though as a sudden evil gleam appeared in heterochromatic eyes, "Because if this was a competition you would lose, I am absolute." Akashi reminded, this time the others catching the joke in the high and mighty tone.
It was worth it to see Kuroko's expressionless face take on a look of pure betrayal.
"Oh no you don't, Tsuya is mine," Kagami claimed immediately, playfully pulling Kuroko against his solid body and glaring at the others.
"Wait, Tsuya? What the hell?" Aomine caught on, just barely refraining from vaulting the counter and removing his Tetsu from Kagami's person. The only thing stopping him was Kuroko didn't seem to be protesting.
"Well everyone else calls him something different!" Kagami defended himself, hugging his shadow closer. "I thought I'd try it too." He caught himself though, "You don't mind do you?" He questioned the smaller player he was holding.
Kuroko shook his head while responding, "I don't mind," He paused for a moment, "Taiga-Kun." Aomine, Kise, and Akashi were pretty sure in that moment that Kagami's entire body had just turned beet red and his eyes glazed over.
"Uh, Kurokocchi, I think you broke Kagamicchi." Kise couldn't resist teasing.
Kuroko shrugged, and because he did have a bit of a cruel streak in him, he pressed back against Kagami until he was practically snuggling against him. "He's the only one of you that bothered to ask me about a nickname." He responded simply.
The power forward had his face hidden in the crook of the Shadow's neck, still burning with embarrassment, however friction was adding an extra dimension to his discomfort, forcing him to whisper, "Could you please stand still?" He requested in a breathless voice, desperately hoping he wouldn't be overheard.
"Having a little problem there Kagami?" Aomine dashed his hopes.
"No, no problem at all! What makes you say that?" Kagami burst out, defending himself quickly, picking his head up though the flaming red tone was not helping his cause.
A tanned finger pointed to Kuroko, "Because I know Tetsu." He bragged, "So, let me guess, need a minute?"
"I'm fine," Kagami insisted while carefully stepping away from Kuroko, though it wasn't lost that he not-so-subtly kept the kitchen counter between himself and the others in the room; shielding his lower body from view.
"Nice restraint," Aomine commented again. "Oh and if you think he is not doing it on purpose, you're wrong."
It was the Touou Ace's turn to be on the receiving end of Kuroko's betrayed expression, "Don't look at me like that. It was you who wanted us all to play nice with Bakagami, I'm just doing what you asked."
"You didn't have to tell him that," Kuroko responded calmly, tone completely unfazed.
"He would have figured it out eventually, just like we did," Aomine defended himself. "I didn't stop you from trying it with him, at least now Bakagami knows it wasn't an accident. I'm doing you a favor."
"Am I missing something?" Kagami asked Kise and Akashi as his gaze flopped between Aomine and Kuroko.
"If you're anything like the rest of us, you probably thought Kurokocchi isn't really interested in sex right?" Kise responded bluntly, startling Kagami into giving a slow nod. "We are saving you the pain of figuring out that isn't exactly true. He doesn't ask directly, he hints, it's our job to put it together."
While Kagami was still too startled to respond to Kise, Akashi went in for the kill, "I will repeat warnings from yesterday, you do anything to harm Tetsuya and no one will find the body, however; he has chosen you. Take care of him and you have our blessing."
"Whoa, okay for one I will never hurt him, but you guys are treating him like a princess. Relax, if I ever did anything he didn't want I doubt there would be enough left of me for you to find." Not just Kuroko would get revenge, the Seirin team also was highly protective of their shadow.
"Here is what you need to understand," Akashi started seriously. "He is our treasure, and has done things for us that we can never repay. Trusting him to you is like serving up everything precious to us on a platter and giving it over to your care. Keep that firmly in your head and you will know why we are overprotective."
There was a put-upon sigh heard through the apartment, "Not this again," Kuroko observed.
"Forgive us Tetsuya, but you brought this one on yourself," Akashi explained. "If you had intended for us to stay out of it, then perhaps you should not have attempted to provoke Taiga with us in the room."
"The opportunity too good to pass up Tetsu?" Aomine realized, as a faint blush rose on Kuroko's cheeks.
"That is none of your business Aomine-kun," Kuroko refuted.
Of course the fun couldn't last forever because they all heard Kise swear under his breath, having just thought to check his phone. "I have to go, my agent booked a shoot for today without telling me first."
"Your clothes from yesterday are in the dryer," Kagami reminded as the blonde started to gather his things.
"I guess I should probably go home before Satsuki comes to find me," Aomine decided.
"What is she, your babysitter?" Kagami couldn't stop himself from getting the dig in.
Aomine glared at his rival, "Trust me, if you knew her like I do you wouldn't be saying that. She is way too close to my mother for my own good."
Kagami thought he heard wrong, "Don't you mean her own good?"
"No, I mean mine," Aomine corrected. "They can be like a couple of harpies if I'm not careful."
"Now that was uncalled for Daiki," Akashi chastised. "Your mother is a very nice woman and Satsuki is an intelligent person who is just trying to keep you from doing something too stupid."
"That's easy for you to say, you don't have to see them every day," Aomine refuted.
"Aomine-kun you said it yourself, as long as you're careful there is nothing to worry about." Kuroko pointed out. "You should know what they are expecting of you by now, it shouldn't be too difficult to go along with them."
"Yeah, yeah," He brushed off, "That's why I'm going home before I get tracked down."
Kagami didn't bother to stop himself, "Good boy."
"Don't you even start," Aomine warned.
"Aren't you supposed to be getting home?" Kagami responded congenially, enjoying working up his rival, this was kind of fun hanging out with Kuroko's old teammates.
"Just you wait, next one-on-one I'll wipe the floor with you," Aomine warned before stalking off after Kise to retrieve his own clothes from the laundry.
There was some jostling and roughhousing as the two large aces left Kagami's apartment, heading for the station together. For two people who used each other as teddy bears the night before they were certainly more than happy to take jabs at each other now.
"Your friends are weird Tsuya," Kagami commented, forgetting for the moment that not all of them had left.
"What was that Taiga?" Akashi challenged.
This time Kagami was not intimidated, "Can you honestly say you are not a little unusual? I never said anything about that being a bad thing." He reminded.
Nothing but silence again, and Kagami smiled. "It's okay to be different, that's actually kind of normal if you haven't noticed. You have friends anyway so it can't be too bad."
Akashi glanced at Kuroko, "So that's why you picked him. He can be surprisingly insightful at times."
"One of the reasons, yes," Kuroko confirmed.
"I'm still in the room you know," Kagami broke in.
"And?" Akashi responded, "You made a comment about me while I was right here."
"Technically I made a general comment," Kagami defended himself, "And like I said it was a compliment."
"Mine was a compliment as well," Akashi pointed out.
"Alright you win," Kagami submitted, not wanting to ruin what had turned out to be a very nice visit by picked a fight, "So what were your plans for the day?"
Akashi thought about it for a moment, "I don't have anything specific in mind, I had not planned on staying overnight so I did not have the foresight to plan something."
"Tsuya and I have afternoon practice today, Hyuuga or coach would have called if that had changed, would you like to come watch?" Kagami decided to offer on a whim, all the other Miracles had turned up already, might as well get the full set.
"I could think of worse ways to spend an afternoon," Akashi agreed.
"We can go by my house on the way to the school and you can borrow some of my practice clothes Akashi-kun," Kuroko added on. "I don't think you want to risk your nice clothes by playing in them again, last night was bad enough."
"You have a point, alright Tetsuya let's do that." The former Teiko captain allowed.
"We have a decision to make Taiga-kun," Kuroko informed, "Should we tell the team about us?"
Yep, Kagami really liked it when Kuroko used his first name, and was now trying to conceal the strain on his voice as he replied. "Even if we don't say anything right away, I think they are going to figure it out pretty quick; especially if you keep calling me that." He admitted.
"Oh, why?" Kuroko asked with a raised eyebrow, perfectly aware of the issue, but he did like to tease his Light when he had the chance.
Kagami's eyes narrowed, remembering what Kise and Aomine had revealed about their Shadow, "I think you already know." He accused.
"I may have an inkling yes," Kuroko fessed up with a little smile. "Who says I want to stop though?"
"Depends, do you really want me to lose it and possibly have a rather spectacular public display of affection?" Kagami warned, a smile on his own lips.
"Hmm, I think that may actually be kind of fun Taiga-kun," Oh yes, very fun indeed. "As long as it's around the team I don't see it being too big of a problem."
"You've actually thought about this haven't you?" Kagami realized. He was a little surprised at the exhibitionist tendency Kuroko was admitting to, but that's not to say he didn't like it.
"I think about a lot of things," Kuroko teased, "I can't help it that people assume that just because I'm quiet I don't have those kinds of thoughts."
"Take it from me, he does," Akashi interrupted.
Kagami looked between the two of them with suspicious eyes, "Just how close were you two?"
"Does it matter?" Akashi challenged. "There was closeness between all of us at Teiko, but some of us enjoyed a stronger bond than others."
Kuroko elaborated, teasing Kagami was one thing, letting him worry about this was another. "There were things that passed between Akashi-kun and I at Teiko, but that was a long time ago and we respect each other too much to interfere with anything new that develops. That was kind of an unspoken agreement between all of us actually. It was fine for things to happen when we were single, but if one of us got into a more serious relationship all that stopped."
"And even among ourselves we were honest with each other when things happened, we tried not to hide anything important." Akashi added. "We were young but we still attempted to take care of each other when it came to love and relationships."
"Ah, I kind of want to ask something, but it's really personal, it's okay if you don't want to answer," Kagami confessed.
"Just ask, the worst we will do is say no," Kuroko encouraged.
"Just how far did things go between you guys? You know I've never gone beyond kissing, and please believe me I don't mind if you have gone farther, I just want to know more about you." Kagami dived in.
"I'm not a virgin," Kuroko admitted, like Akashi had said they didn't hide that kind of thing from each other. "It's up to you if you want to know who I've been with."
To his credit, Kagami actually took a moment to think about it, "Yes, I want to know. Again, I'm not going to get mad, but it is something I'd like to know if you are willing to tell me?"
"Aomine-kun and Akashi-kun," Kuroko responded after sharing a glance and approving nod with his old captain. "Never went beyond kissing with Kise-kun, and nothing at all with the other two."
Kagami nodded, "I figured as much. At least with them I can understand why you'd want to."
"It wasn't all about sex, it did happen, but that was a fairly small part of what we had," Kuroko was quick to assure. "It was more about just being close, especially during the last year when we started falling apart as a team. We at least had that to tie us together for as long as possible. At training camps we could be fighting like cats and dogs during the day but end up sleeping in one big pile at night."
"That sounds both fun and sad," Kagami observed. "I'm glad it wasn't all bad for you though."
"I might have left a lot sooner if it wasn't for those bonds," Kuroko admitted. "It took a lot to get me to want to leave, and even then I didn't leave with the intention of never coming back. I wanted to find a way for us to heal and have something new and better."
"This is probably selfish, but I'm happy you came to Seirin." Kagami confessed unsurprisingly, "You did manage to achieve what you wanted, but at the same time we got to know you. That wouldn't have happened if you went to the same school as one of the others."
"I know, I'm happy with my choices," Kuroko assured. "They were the right ones to make, both for myself and the others."
"For what it's worth the rest of us are glad Tetsuya found a place he belongs," Akashi revealed. "It's why we are so approving of you two being together even with our history. We won't take his happiness away from him again."
Kuroko decided to change the topic a bit, "You know we never did decide if we should tell the team," He reminded.
"I think we should surprise them," Kagami suggested, "I want them to know, but I think it would be more fun to not say it directly. Just let it happen and see how long it takes for them to figure it out."
"I like that idea," Kuroko approved, "Care to make any guesses on who will figure it out first and when?"
"Sure," Kagami agreed. "If I had to bet on something, I would say coach will be the first to realize it. The other starters after that, and the rest will figure it out from them."
"Okay, that sounds about right, but if he was around I would say Kiyoshi-senpai would have a fair chance of getting it first," Kuroko added on to Kagami's guess. "How about when?"
"Less than a week," Kagami judged, "Depending on how much we choose to tease each other it will be sooner rather than later."
"I give them less than a day," Akashi commented drily. "It's kind of obvious."
"We have always been close though, it might take a little while for them to notice it's turned to something more," Kagami pointed out.
"Still, I doubt it will take too long," Akashi stuck by his first guess. "Your team is far from unobservant and like I said, it is fairly obvious that you two have advanced your bond.
"We will just have to wait and see," Kagami observed and with that the three teens started getting ready to leave.
It was a relatively easy thing to swing by Kuroko's house to gather practice clothes for him and Akashi, and soon after they arrived at the school. Despite being nearly an hour early the gym was not empty. The other soon to be second years were there to get in extra practice and judging by the amount of sweat they had been there for a while.
When they spotted the newly arrived trio all of them stopped dead in their tracks, not expecting to see the small but intimidating point guard standing placidly next to their classmates.
"I was invited along for your practice today, please continue your drills, we didn't mean to interrupt," Akashi spoke, soothing what were obviously frazzled nerves. The day before had calmed some of the overt panic, but it still was not easy to forget the monster they barely managed to take down in the Winter Cup.
When Kagami, Kuroko, and Akashi had gotten changed and re-entered the gym, Akashi couldn't stop the Captain in him from rearing its head. He watched the practicing players carefully, evaluating them out of a habit he hadn't bothered to break. He stayed back until they needed a water break before commenting, once again not able to stop himself. "Kouki, you have improved a lot." He began with the one he had actually played before. "I could see you trying to perform an ankle break, and that is a very hard to execute move. If Taiga is willing to be a test subject I can help you learn it." He offered.
"Hey, why me?" Kagami immediately objected.
"Easy, you are arguably the strongest player on the team. If the move even works on you it will raise his confidence level." Akashi explained.
"Fine, when you put it that way I'll do it," Kagami agreed, willing to help his teammate even if it meant he would likely be meeting the gym floor on a fairly regular basis.
"Thank you," Akashi had the grace to be appreciative anyway. "Now for you two, I know we have only met briefly, but I'm still confidant in saying you play well." He commented when he turned to the other two players. "You have the makings of a good center, very good coordination and sense of timing." He complimented Kawahara before addressing Fukuda, "And I believe you are training for shooting guard correct?" He asked getting a nod. "You have the strength for it, but try to improve your range. You are much better at shooting head on than from the side, work on that and I think you will find yourself much harder to predict and block."
All three of them were shocked silent at the comments, before scrambling to thank Akashi. "It's no problem, I enjoy helping hardworking players. It is very satisfying to see improvement from those people you have advised."
"Still, thank you." Furihata thanked again.
"Like I said, it's fine, now would you like to try the ankle break again?" Akashi offered, they still had some time before main practice would begin.
"Yes please, if you think I can do it," Furihata was willing to jump at any chance to improve. He had been used in two games and while he knew he had managed to help, he still wanted to do more so he could get on the court more often.
With that Akashi started directing Kagami to do basic drives towards the basket to give them something to aim for, and just like Kagami had suspected he did hit the floor often. Akashi was not holding back a bit, and he turned out to be a very good teacher as the others watched from the sidelines.
By the time the rest of the team showed up Furihata was managing to perform it correctly two times out of ten, which Akashi was quick to assure was very good progress for the amount of time they had worked on it.
Riko found herself both impressed and excited to see what the rest of the practice would turn out to be.