a/n: originally posted on ao3 in august 2021! fun little thing to write

"Watch the water, Aomine-kun. It should start bubbling soon."

"I know how to boil eggs, Tetsu."

Kuroko's tone of hum does not suggest confidence.

Aomine jerks around to jab a finger in Kuroko's direction. "I heard that!"

"I would hope so, we're standing next to each other."

"You can be a real pest, you know that?" Aomine growls. Kuroko smiles at him. Aomine scratches the back of his head and returns to staring at the pot of water on the stove, how the little bubbles at the bottom are forming but not at the top. "Is it ready yet?"

Kuroko shakes his head. "No, we want a rolling boil. That's what Kagami-kun calls it."

Aomine huffs. "Rolling boil, huh? Sounds like some kind of sentai move."

"Kind of."

"So do you really just stand here watching water boil every time you want some eggs?"

Kuroko shrugs. "Not really. I usually go read and wait to hear it boil."

"Then why did you make me stand here to watch it?"

"To see if you would."

Aomine puts his face in both of his hands, groans, and drags them down his face. "Tetsu you're going to be the goddamn death of me."

Kuroko chuckles. "I didn't think you'd be killed off so easily."

Aomine grunts and gives Kuroko a light shove. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Too late to go sit down now, right?"

"Yeah. It's almost there."

Silence washes over them, save for the gentle rumbling of the pot of water. As the first few bubbles spring up at the top, Kuroko picks up the steel basket net with the eggs inside and hands it to Aomine. "Here, you can do it."

Aomine takes the basket by its collapsible handles and squints at it. "You don't just...drop 'em in?"

"You'd break them."

"...Fair enough."

The water quickly begins to boil and Aomine, taken aback, yelps and practically drops the basket into the pot, the folding upper portion of it resting atop the edges of the pot.

Kuroko smiles as he turns down the heat and puts a lid over the pot. "Did the rolling boil scare you?"

"No! Just took me by surprise. You didn't mention anything about it being noisy and all active like that," Aomine protests. Kuroko takes out a timer and sets it.

"My apologies. We have some time before the eggs are ready, what do you want to do?"

"I dunno, do we have time to do some practice at that court nearby?"

"Not at all."

"Then fuck if I know."

Kuroko shuffles past Aomine so he can leave the kitchen. "Do you talk like that around your parents?"

Aomine shrugs. "No, 'course not. Why? You bothered?"

"Not really. Just curious."

Kuroko travels to his couch and Aomine, after a bored exhale, follows. They sit down on opposite ends. A sports channel is on the TV at a low volume, but it's not basketball so they're not particularly interested. After too long of a silence, Aomine clears his throat.

"So...you and Kagami, huh?"

Kuroko perks up. "What about us?"

Aomine rolls his eyes. "Does he know we're spending the day alone together? Like he's okay with that?"

"He's the one who told me not to let you use the stove, but I thought you could handle it."

"Son of a bitch."

Kuroko smiles. "You two fight a lot, but you like each other. It's okay."

Aomine scoffs. "Yeah, whatever."

This time the silence is awkward; Aomine opens his mouth a few times to speak only to close it. Kuroko notices and waits patiently for him to be ready to share his thoughts.

Aomine finally sighs. "Tetsu...remember how you had five boyfriends and a girlfriend in middle school? Greedy bastard."

Kuroko nods. "I do. It didn't end well."

Aomine can't look at Kuroko. "Yeah. But what if you...I dunno, had two boyfriends again?"

"Hm...I would have to talk to Kagami-kun about that. I don't think I'd mind. Why?"

"See, I've been doing a lot of thinking-no smart ass comments from you!-and...look, I don't deserve a second chance from you, but I thought-"

"You're right, you don't."

Aomine's dejected exhale makes his whole body deflate. "Alright. I get it. Forget I brought this up."

Kuroko shakes his head, though Aomine is still looking away from him. "I didn't say no, Aomine-kun. I just agreed with you."

Aomine turns to Kuroko quickly, jaw slack. He stares at him for a moment in disbelief. "You serious, Tetsu?"

"Yeah. But I want you to be honest with me: is it just me?" Kuroko asks. Aomine's face scrunches up and his cheeks flush just a little. Of course.

"Fine," he folds surprisingly quickly, "I'm...interested in Kagami, too. I said it. Is he down with this kind of thing?"

Kuroko hums. "We sort of talked about this in a "what if" scenario. He said it'd be weird for him at first but if we were going to date multiple people he'd rather it be both of us dating the same person. So this falls under that."

Aomine's expression brightens up. "Then we're good, right?"

"No, I still need to talk to him."

"C'mon, you don't think he's not flirting back with me?"

"I didn't say that."

Before Aomine can add another comment, the timer in the kitchen goes off.

Kuroko gets up. "Can you get some ice water in a bowl?"

"Ice water? For your eggs?"

"It makes them easier to peel."

"-and so Aomine-kun wants to date both of us."

Kagami puts the lid on the pot of boiling eggs, turns the heat down and grabs the timer. Kuroko notes that he seems calmer about this than expected.

"Uh-huh..."

"What do you think?"

Kagami sets the timer down and leans against the counter opposite the stove. His cheeks are a little pink. "I, uh...I'm surprised, I guess? Didn't think he'd try to go for that after what happened between you two."

Kuroko nods. "I was surprised, too."

"But you said you were okay with it?"

"Yes."

"Even though he was a dick to you before?"

Kuroko shifts his weight. "I've forgiven him."

Kagami sighs. "If you're sure..."

"What about you? Do you want to date Aomine-kun?"

"I, uh, can't say I've thought about it before. I think we have fun messing around, but I've never imagined what it'd be like to date the guy."

"If you're not sure then we shouldn't do it."

Kagami, flustered, shakes his head. "That's not it! I'm not-I'm not saying no, I'm just saying this is all new to me, alright?"

Kuroko smiles. "Alright. Take your time. We aren't going anywhere."

"Tetsu, I don't think these are any easier to peel than if you just let 'em cool down normally."

"I disagree."

Aomine huffs as he grapples with his egg while Kuroko and Kagami continue to peel theirs. They're sitting around Kuroko's table with Kuroko at the head and the pile of shelled boiled eggs between them.

Kagami reaches for another egg to peel. "I just wanna know why we only eat eggs when we come over, Kuroko."

Kuroko looks up at Kagami. "It's all I know how to cook."

"But you had me cook these!"

Aomine brings his hand down hard on the table. "And you had me make them last time!"

Kuroko shrugs and bites into an egg.

Kagami shakes his head and looks over at Aomine's struggle to de-shell his first egg. "Look, Aomine, want me to take care of that for you?"

Aomine grunts. "No way, I can do this myself."

"We're dating now, right? You can let me help you."

It's the first time it's been put into words like that; this is the first time they've been together as a trio of boyfriends since they agreed to date each other. It hangs in the air, the casual way Kagami put it. We're dating now.

Aomine grumbles. He hands over his egg and crosses his arms. Kagami can't help but smile as he gets to work on the shell. "You really did a number on this one."

"Shut up. 'S not my fault I got a shitty egg."

Kuroko, having finished eating his first one, reaches for another. "I'll also peel one for you, Aomine-kun."

"Tetsu-!"

"You're my boyfriend now, too. Again. I can peel an egg for you."

Aomine watches his new boyfriends' fingers work at the shells, carefully pulling them apart in much neater ways than he was. Kuroko's method is smooth and practiced, clearly someone who eats a lot of these. Kagami's rougher but he's efficient and gets the job done. Aomine knows what Kuroko's hands are like; Kagami's are new and he can't help but watch them.

Once he has two freshly peeled eggs in front of him, Aomine looks up at Kuroko and Kagami, who return his stare.

"So...this is how it's gonna be, huh?" he says.

Kuroko makes a hum of affirmation. "I think two will be easier to handle than six."

Kagami looks at Kuroko with a surprised expression, then he sighs. "I'll get used to it. I think both of you are gonna be a lot to handle."

Aomine knocks his foot against Kagami's under the table. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kagami grunts and pushes his foot back against him. "It means you're a lot to handle!"

"What, too much for you?"

"No!"

Kuroko sighs but smiles pleasantly to himself. "You two are loud."