So this chapter was prompted (several months ago) by an absolutely awesome chapter of half_sleeping's genderbend fic "Miracles". You can read the thread of comments here: / / archive of our own / comments / 6000709 (by the way, I recommend reading that fic on archive of our own - there are more chapters up).

So the original inspiration figured Kuroko as a girl and her totally platonic, best-friends-ever, relation with Kagami, but I thought it worked pretty well with the canon version too.

I was inspired to get back to this after discovering "Shadow girls" by Akurai, another awesome genderbend which reminded me of "Miracles" and, in turn, of the idea I'd had, so I dug it up and wrote it up. By the way, this is the one I was intending to write a few days ago before I got sidetracked by Star Trek parallels.

Taiga knows what it looks like, okay?

They're close. They're really close. They spend all of their time together, both on and off the court; for both of them, their days are nothing but basketball basketball basketball, interlaced with classes, with burgers at Maji's, with study sessions and rooftop lunches. They're pretty much joined at the hip most of their day and you can rarely find one of them without the other one nearby. They have an uncanny radar to detect the other's presence (or maybe that's just Taiga. Kuroko probably doesn't need anything but to follow the noise to find him. Or sneak around and listen while nobody notices).

The point is, everyone and their grandmother goes on about how he and Kuroko are so fucking married and while in a way, they kind of are, in another? They're really, really not.

Taiga just really likes Kuroko. A lot. He can be an annoying little shit on occasion, and they do fight sometimes, but they get one another. He can't speak for Kuroko (though considering the maniacs he used to call his team, he's pretty sure he can make an educated guess) but as far as he's concerned, Kuroko is the best friend he's ever had and he's like a brother to him. It's not the same as it was with Tatsuya – Tatsuya was his older brother and Kuroko, for all that he claims to be a shadow, is every bit his equal – but most of the time these days Taiga thinks it might be better.

So Kuroko is pretty much his brother from another mother. A very, very different twin brother – Taiga has heard Hyuuga-senpai wonder, and sometimes he asks himself too, how two people with such opposite personalities can be friends – but then again, maybe that's exactly why they make a great pair. They complement each other.

The problem is Kuroko comes attached with some strings – specifically rainbow-colored, annoying, condescending strings. And if there is one thing Taiga will never understand, it is the dynamics of that special snowflake team – half the time he can't tell whether they even like each other or just want to crush each other with basketball. And okay, on occasion the perplexity turns to worry and even alarm – he's not even close to forgetting how Murasakibara reaching for Kuroko's head made him panic inside.

So he's a little bit protective of Kuroko. He's not the asshole who's gonna stand over him and hiss at anyone who comes near, but any time they get close to one of those morons, or to one of those basketball players who've been humiliated in middle school and who for some reason seem to hold Kuroko equally responsible – as if anyone could ever put Kuroko in the same lot as the rainbow brigade! – he gets a little nervous. And a little paranoid. And Izuki-senpai and Koganei-senpai can make as much fun as they want of his "mama bear" tendencies, Taiga has totally caught them steering Kuroko closer to the middle of the group whenever they walk to and from a basketball match.

So for all the above reasons, Taiga's pretty suspicious of Kiyoshi Teppei.

It's not that he has anything against the upperclassman. He doesn't. It's just that Kuroko's been pretty depressed ever since they lost against that Aomine bastard and Taiga doesn't know what to do to help, to get that look off his face, so he's been keeping his distance.

And that Kiyoshi's totally creepy.

Maybe that's just Taiga speaking, but Kiyoshi is always staring at Kuroko. Not that he can see him better than any of them – but whenever he can he pretty much stares all the time. And the way he laughs stupidly, and talks at random about anything and everything…

Actually, Taiga's pretty sure Kiyoshi would come across as creepy to just about anyone.

So one evening, when the two of them are putting away the basketballs, Taiga asks, "What's your deal with Kuroko?"

Kiyoshi cocks his head to one side.

"Kuroko?"

Taiga glares.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

Kiyoshi looks at him, open-faced and friendly, and Taiga trusts him even less.

"With the staring, and the petting on the head, and the weird cryptic sentences, and, and offering him sweets like some creepy pedophile, and laughing at odd moments and going on about "cute little kouhais" and fraternizing with Nigou and smiling at him all the time like some crazy bastard –"

Kiyoshi's laughter interrupts Taiga's rant. He's not very loud, just laughs quietly, head tilted back, eyes crinkled in mirth, studying Taiga like he's just discovered something new and amazing.

"You're so cute."

"Huh?"

Whatever Taiga was expecting, it wasn't that.

"It's so cute the way you're concerned over him! The way you're ready to protect and defend him."

Taiga bristles. Kuroko doesn't need someone to protect him, or even less defend him (except the times he really, really does). What Kuroko needs is someone to stand by him.

"Aaah." Kiyoshi's eyes are unexpectedly sharp. "But that's not the way you want it, is it? You don't want to protect him – you want to play basketball with him. Stand alongside him."

Taiga glares.

The smile breaks across Kiyoshi's face again. He leans forwards and forcefully ruffles Taiga's hair.

"Kouhais are so cute."

He walks out, leaving Taiga standing baffled and confused in the gym.

(Also left with the rest of the clean-up to do. Bastard and his need to make a grand exit)

Two days later, a weary Hyuuga assures him that yes, Kiyoshi is always like that, and Hyuuga has long since stopped (and has better things to do than) trying to make him less creepy. One day, he says, Kiyoshi is going to get arrested, and Hyuuga fully intends to stand there, and laugh his head off.

(Neither Taiga nor Kiyoshi ever realize that Kuroko was in the gym for the whole conversation, and that while he is a little annoyed at Kagami-kun's intervention, he is mostly ridiculously grateful because it's been a long time since anyone has cared that much.)

(Kuroko will never stop feeling grateful for Seirin. And for Kagami-kun.)