A/N: This is a super super work in progress. I love imagining these characters grow and what their daily life is like. This is the fic stemming from all the hours spent reading fics in the fandom. Shout out to every single one of you contributing to this fandom because there are way too many awesome characters here and there's never enough to read.
Just a little background, this fic starts after Kagami leaves for America at the end of Kuroko no Basket Extra Game, the one after they play against Jabberwock. I love reading fics with Kuroko as centric and Hanamiya is such a little lovable shit. There's not much out there on Hanamiya but thank you authors for building up his character. I urge everyone who hasn't read this pairing to check out the other fics on them. They're really well developed and I will attempt to try my best to do the same.
Also, GoM together makes my heart feel warm. there will be many random GoM together scenes.
Enjoy! This is just the start and hopefully it will end somewhere.
"Do you hear that? Is it a ghost?"
"Shit man. It's been going on every night now. You don't think this place is haunted do you?"
Kuroko wanted to roll his eyes but with how often this happens, he continued on with practice and ignored the voices. He needed to get this shot down – 6 out of 10 was not good enough.
Kagami left for America about three weeks ago and Kuroko was feeling the strain of not having his light around. Or any light for that matter. Ever since Kagami's departure, the team seemed to place their collective expectations on the Shadow. The first thing they did was work on Kuroko's teamwork with other individuals on the team to see if there was a suitable light to replace Kagami. When that didn't work, they tried to incorporate Kuroko's playstyle to Seirin's style before the duo had joined the team. Needless to say, Kuroko had some trouble incorporating his moves to how the team was at the moment. Coach Riko dismissed everyone for individual training until the start of the new school year.
"Here's your training regimen for the rest of the break. Work on it! I'd better see some improvements by then or your menus will be tripled!"
So here he was, training every night since then, trying to improve his own skills, trying to find a direction without a light, trying to be the light, trying anything that might work.
Kuroko sighed in frustration.
Akashi and Murasakibara went back to their own regions after the match with Jabberwock with a promise to meet at the Interhigh Championships. He would have asked Kise to help him with training but Kuroko wasn't ready for the amount of commitment needed to entertain the hyper, overly clingy man. Takao would kill him for stealing Midorima and Aomine was a light that Kuroko wasn't ready to revisit.
Kuroko groaned in frustration when the ball didn't go in again. 5 out of 10. He needed to concentrate.
"That was a shit shot."
Not again. Kuroko wanted to scream at his misfortune.
"I said it was none of Hanamiya-san's business yesterday. It hasn't changed since then."
The captain of the Kirasaki Daiichi team scoffed. "As if I care. I just wanted to remind you it was a shit shot. You're a shit shot."
"I got that the first time. You don't have to repeat it."
Hanamiya Makoto started coming to the court 3 nights ago. Each time, the assho- the Captain would sit at the bench and either sneer or at Kuroko's failed shots. The first night, Hanamiya laughed and boo-ed at him. The second, the captain started to shoot him with harsh statements on how much of a failure he was. On the third, Hanamiya just sat there quietly, judging.
Kuroko did spare some time to wonder what tonight was going to bring.
"You're a shit shot because of that shit form you're using. Who taught you to shoot three pointers like that? Was it the green one or the blue one?"
"The blue one." Kuroko sent a glare at the other for the uninteresting names. "He only taught me to shoot from within the semicircle. Not outside of it."
"That's why you're such a shit shot at the moment."
"Hanamiya-san must be slow to comprehend. I said I heard you the first time."
"You know, after the first night, I knew how to solve your dumb shooting problem. I'm not sure I want to share my amazing solution with you and your shitty disrespectful attitude."
"I didn't ask you and your amazing intellect to solve my problem for me, Hanamiya-san. So please save your time and have a good night."
"If you're going to be so fucking rude don't use such polite words."
"And if you're trying to be helpful, stop being so vulgar and ill-mannered."
"Fine."
"Fine."
It started from here.
6 weeks after Kagami left for America, school and training started again.
As per traditions, the first years sat to watch the second years play against the third years. Despite Seirin's win last year, there were not that many new recruits because of the news about their star player leaving the country.
Fukuda seemed to have buffed up over the holidays and was guarding Hyuuga quite efficiently. Furihita was keeping up with Kogane, and Kawahara could shoot despite Mitobe defending him. Kuroko was shifted to the point guard position and did demonstrate some improvements in dribbling. A first year was subbed in to take Kagami's position and had Tsuchida on him.
The problem with the second year team was evident in just the first ten minutes. Despite most of them having the skills to shoot, they were just not as impactful as Kagami had been. It limited the types of passes and the areas Kuroko could pass to, thus weakening the passing specialist's skills. Kuroko knew he could shoot threes (9 out of 10 from exactly at the line!) but he also knew it was a card he wanted to pull out in the first match against a strong team and was unwilling to use it now. The purpose of this match up was to test out new positions and if there was any way to shuffle the line-up.
At the fifteen minute mark, the junior team was down by 12.
"We need to shoot more threes to decrease the gap." Fukuda pointed out.
"We also need someone to increase the pace of our attack. The senpais are totally controlling the pace right now!" Kawahara added. "Man, this is when I miss Kagami."
"Yeah we really need someone to break through into the paint like Kagami used to do." Furihita couldn't help but compare. "Kuroko can only do so much without his light you know?"
And how was a statement like that supposed to make him feel? Kuroko was tempted to compare their skills to that of his previous light but kept all his remarks in.
"Seirin's not the same without the power duo, you know? The sempais are carrying their weight at the moment but when they leave after graduation, we're doomed!" The first year remarked. Kuroko felt a deep anger boiling within but kept his neutral face on.
"We need to move around more. Pass more. Make them move out of the paint so I can pass to someone inside." Kuroko suggested and the rest nodded in acceptance.
"You're the boss, man. We'll try that out." Kawahara sighed as if he knew it won't change the outcome of the match.
It didn't.
The game ended with the score difference at 9 in their senpai's favour. Riko commended the second years on their improvement but Kuroko felt the weight of their loss solely on his shoulders. He spotted Aomine and Momoi hanging out on the bleachers since half time and noted they were now making their way towards him.
"Tetsu-kun!"
"Yo, Tetsu!"
Kuroko sighed. He really didn't want to show such a display to Aomine. He felt pathetic.
"Geh. What are they doing here?!" Hyuuga scowled.
"Spying on us? Isn't it a little too early in the season for them to do this?" Koganei whispered out loud to Mitobe who nodded.
"Maybe they were just passing by to check out their passing specialist." Izumi wiggled his eyebrows.
"Shut up, Izumi!"
"Aomine-kun, Momoi-san, what are you doing here?" Kuroko was pretty sure his two friends were here on personal business.
"Just checking out how you're doing, Tetsu." Aomine swung an arm around the shadow's shoulders.
Momoi exchanged a smile with Riko before addressing Kuroko. "Tetsu-kun! We went out of town to visit Daiki's grandparents over the holidays and didn't manage to catch up with you! He kept talking about basketball and missing you so we just had to come over to watch your first training of the year."
"Yeah! We should totally train together again, Tetsu!"
"We're on different teams now, Aomine-kun." Kukoro stated.
"But we can still train together on the weekends! I can help you with your shooting or passes! You can be my shadow again!" Aomine pushed.
"He's Kagami's shadow, you can't have him!" Furihita shouted and the rest of the team called out their agreement.
"Kagami isn't here anymore. Does Tetsu-kun have a light here he can train with?" Momoi asked with a smile on her face but Kukoro was pretty sure everyone could feel her fangs.
"Face it, Seirin. Kuroko doesn't have anyone he can partner up with in your current team line up. You're wasting his potential here. He would be more useful to someone like me who can work off his skills better." Aomine smirked.
"I go to Seirin, Aomine-kun. There's no way I can play for you. I'm here to stay." Kukoro explained patiently despite feeling the end of his patience drawing close.
"But you're useless here, Tetsu." Aomine said it in such a matter of fact manner that pissed him off so much.
"I was useless to you at some point in time too, Aomine-kun. Don't treat me as a puppy you can call back when you please. I might not be as useful to Seirin as I used to be but I'm still part of their team." Kuroko snapped. "Now, if that is all, please excuse me."
"Tetsu, wait. That's not what I mean."
"Then I must have misunderstood you. Perhaps we can clarify the issue another time." He stormed off. He really hated it when they spoke about him as if he wasn't there. As if he didn't already understand the situation. Why did he have to become a shadow again? Takao was a shadow and he didn't need a light to play. Why couldn't Kuroko play like that? He was all about team play and that didn't mean he needed a light to play his style of basketball.
That night, he made a request.
"I want to observe how you and your team play."
"You know, I agreed to stop being so vulgar if you would stop being so fake-polite. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate your please and thank yous."
Kukoro glared. He really wasn't in the mood for this.
"Someone told me I was useless on court. It seems like I can't do anything without a light." Kuroko explained, not sure why he was telling this to the bad boy of Kirisaki Daiichi.
"Bullshit. But how is this my problem again?"
"Your team functions just fine through teamwork alone."
"Well, I wouldn't call it teamwork alone. High IQ is needed for our level of play, something that majority of Seirin lacks."
"I want to learn how to do that."
"You mean how we work together to play dirty and send people off the court?"
"No. I mean your spider web."
"And why would I let you learn the techniques of my spider web?" Hanamiya raised a brow as if he was waiting for Kuroko to convince him rather than saying no from the get go.
"I'll show you my vanishing drive." Kuroko staked.
"Hmmm…"
"And my phantom shot."
"We have training on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Text me when you're coming."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Kuroko saw the head of blue waiting by his gate and prepared himself mentally.
"Tetsu."
"Aomine-kun."
"We need to talk."
He sighed internally. "Do you want to come inside? I have tea."
Aomine shrugged. "Sure."
The house was quite. His grandmother went to bed early and his parents were both not in town. Kuroko turned on the lights and headed for the kitchen to boil some water. Nigou was in the backyard so Kuroko let him into the house. He also made sure to refill Nigou's bowl of water and food.
"I only have ocha."
"Ok."
It was silent while the water boiled and Kuroko prepared the tea bags. Aomine busied himself with playing with Nigou. Kuroko then brought both cups to the dining table where Aomine was seated at and waited for the other to start talking. He didn't have to wait long.
"I'm sorry."
Kuroko continued keeping quiet, knowing Aomine would explain himself.
"I was an ass in Teikou. I took you for granted. You made basketball fun, you know? You made me good. You made all of us better." Aomine started before taking a sip of his tea. Kuroko followed. "I took you for granted. Basketball became boring. And yet, when I played with you on Vorpal, it was fun. I missed that." The darker haired male stretched out a hand to touch Kuroko's right forearm and gave it a squeeze. "You're amazing. You're not like us and yet you're stronger than us all. I hated seeing you play with Bakagami. It was like being slapped with the realisation that I wasn't special. I wasn't the only one you could synergise with."
"What I said this morning…" Aomine continued. "I was just so eager to have you back that it came out all wrong. Satsuki says I'm crap at talking. I hope you understand what I mean even if I don't make sense, Tetsu. You're real smart with that."
"You don't make sense 90 percent of the time and I still understand what you want, Aomine-kun." Aomine scowled, Kuroko smiled. Aomine's thumb started rubbing circles on Kuroko's arm conveying his relief at Kuroko's easy forgiveness.
"But for real. Do you need help with basketball? I saw your match. You're looking for a new style." The other offered.
Kuroko was then reminded that he needed to drop a text to Hanamiya-san. "It's alright. I've got it covered. Just be prepared for everything when you face us at Interhigh."
"Che. You're always full of surprises. For all I know, you're going to dunk or something next."
"Have you seen my leg muscles? I train by pulling Midorima-kun's rickshaw every day."
Aomine roared with laughter.
8 weeks after Kagami left for America, Kuroko finally found a new method of playstyle that could suit his current team.
After watching Hanamiya-san's team play, Kuroko realised Kirisaki Daiichi was probably the team with the best teamwork next to the old Seirin. Everyone in the team participated in the playstyle for it to work. It wasn't the same as Touou or Kaijou who could play in their own styles while their star player scored however they wanted. It wasn't like Shuutoku who played around Midorima during clutch time.
In Kirisaki Daiichi, everyone was needed for Hanamiya-san's spider web to work. They were all constantly reading each other's movements and subtly signalling to each other. It was a privilege to watch the team while they were not trying to foul.
Kuroko was a passing specialist. He needed to level up his passes using better dribbling skills. He started to practice his bounce passes and double vanishing drive with Izuki during practice. With his better dribbling skills, he could trigger misdirection overflow any time and lower the consequences of witnessing that skill.
Their first match in the Interhigh preliminaries was a win. With the starting line up as Hyuuga, Izuki, Mitobe, Kuroko, and Koganei, Kuroko was able to synergize well having played with most of them in the previous year. They read each other well and was able to pull off some form of zone attack and defence based off Hanamiya's spider web style.
Unfortunately, all good things come with a price.
"You think I haven't noticed you dribble and feint in my style? You owe me." Hanamiya now started shooting baskets while Kuroko practiced dribbling.
"You could have copied my vanishing drive and shot as well." 'But you didn't and that's your problem' went unsaid.
"You know you owe me."
Kuroko did know.
"I have to do up a report on the Imperial courts during the 14th century. I need to make a trip to that new museum opening on Saturday. The guys won't go with me because they're shit like that."
Kuroko measured the favour mentally. He was interested in going to the new museum anyway so it wasn't that big a request.
"Fine. I'll go. But you have to treat me to lunch." He tried.
"You little shit. You owe me. Remember that."
"Fine. 1 milkshake."
"Fine. But you're buying your own lunch."
"Fine."
'We trashed Kaijou today. – Mako-tan.'
'Tetsu-kun! We're meeting at Ryou-kun's apartment to cheer him up. He's in a bit of a funk. Please bring ice cream. – Satsuki-chan'
Kuroko made his way to Kise's apartment after picking up some popsicles from a nearby shop. When he arrived, Midorima and Momoi were nursing cups of tea at the dinner table while Kise gestured wildly with tears streaming down his face. Aomine was lying on the couch adding to Kise's story.
"Kuroko-cchi!" Kise cried and rushed over to hug the smaller boy, pausing his story. "Today was such a bad day! I'm glad you came with ice cream!"
"It's alright, Kise-kun. You guys did your best." Kuroko gave the blond a pat on the head and handed the popsicles over.
"It was but it was so humiliating! They were such assholes! They managed to send Hayakawa off court using their stupid dirty plays and since he's our new captain, the juniors were like headless chickens after that!" Kise took one and handed the rest of the box over to Midorima who helped himself and passed it on to Momoi. "By the way, how did you know I was upset about the match, Kuroko? Were you keeping up to date with Kaijou's schedule? You're so sweet!"
Kuroko smiled but didn't comment. "I'm sure Kise-kun did his best."
"At least you didn't get injured. You should be thankful I passed you your lucky item before the match." Midorima added.
"Shin-kun is right! The fact that you played Kirisaki Daiichi and didn't get hurt is a miracle in itself!" Momoi continued.
"That bastard Hanamiya actually said to me that I wasn't worth it. If he wanted to hurt someone he would target the real ones and not a copy cat."
"What an asshole, he's just trying to get into your mind. At least you scored majority of the points and the score difference was only 2 considering your captain got sent off." Aomine continued. "But you've been slacking haven't you, Ryou? You haven't played any one on ones with me this season. How are you supposed to copy me properly if you don't even try?"
"Your tricks are crap, Ahomine! That's why I lost! You wait till we meet in Wintercup! We'll trash you!"
"Oh big words for someone who lost a match today. We beat you last year Ryou, I'm sure we can do it again this year." Kuroko smiled at how easily Aomine baited and distracted the blond.
"Just you wait. We've been working on something especially for Touou."
"Fools. You know Shuutoku was rated most likely to win by Basketball Weekly right?"
"I'm going to go to the mountains to pray for Cancer to be the most unlucky for the day of our match."
"I'll come with you, Aomine-cchi."
"Don't you dare! And why are you siding that formless idiot, Kise!"
"Let's test how much luck affects your basketball, Shin." Aomine taunted and the three continued to bicker. Kuroko chuckled. It was a while since the bunch of them have been so friendly with each other. He really loved times like this where the Miracles felt like family and showed love in their strange way.
"Oh Momoi-san?" Kuroko moved to the table to sit next to the pink haired girl.
"Hmm?" She asked distractedly while still smiling at the bickering trio.
"You and Aomine-kun are starting to call the rest by their birth names." Kuroko observed.
"Mmnn! Daiki and I decided that we wanted to be closer to our middle school friends. After that talk Daiki had with you, we realised that we needed to keep the group together and appreciate the friendship we have." Momoi explained with a look of nostalgia on her face. "We all went through a challenging period to be back here. I think we need to cherish our time spent together more. We're all in different school but this is family, you know?"
Kuroko smiled, warmth booming from his heart. He was glad they were back together.
"Thank you for always watching over us, Satsuki-chan." Kuroko tested the girl's name on his tongue. It felt right. Momoi beamed and reached out to hold onto his hand, giving it a squeeze in appreciation.
"If only Seijuro-kun and Atsushi-kun could meet us more frequently." Kuroko wished.
"We'll have them over for the holidays. And you'll meet them in the semi-finals for sure." Momoi assured. "On another note, Imayoshi-kun tells me you've made a new friend. Don't think I didn't notice you knew about Ryou-kun's match before he told you."
"Hmm. I have." Kuroko replied minimally to test the waters on where Momoi wanted to bring this conversation to.
"I'll keep it quiet for now, Tetsu-kun. They won't like it." Momoi warned.
"I'll be fine." Kuroko replied but it was rather vague to what he was replying to.
"And I trust your judgement." The pink haired girl nodded.
"You're all narrow-minded blockheads! We need to gather our forces to defeat Seirin. They are the Wintercup champions after all and they have a bye in!"
"You're right, Shin! Tetsu told me he's practicing to dunk now."
"ARE YOU SERIOUS, AOMINE-CCHI!? WHY DID WE NOT RECEIVE THIS INFORMATION!? WE NEED TO RESTRATEGISE."
"Ryou-kun lower your volume! This is why your neighbours make complaints!" Momoi scolded.
"Wait. Takao did mention that he spoke to Kuroko recently about some lower body training regimen recently…"
"HOLY SHIT YOU WERE SERIOUS ABOUT PULLING SHIN'S CART, TETSU?!"
"KUROKO-CCHI PULLS MIDORIMA-CCHI'S CART FOR HIM?!"
"Have you seen these monsters, Ryouta-kun?" Kuroko gestured to his calf muscles. He also noticed Kise's eyes sparkled with happiness at the form of address.
"Oh I'll be looking forward to playing the match with Seirin, Tetsuya-cchi." Kise replied accordingly sending a spark of happiness through Kuroko.
"Shintarou-kun, I shoot threes too. Watch out." Kuroko said in a totally deadpan tone.
"I'll be sure to look out for your threes, Tetsuya." Midorima smirked. Kuroko was pretty sure Midorima didn't believe him. He'd show them.
"The next thing you know, Tetsu will have grown another 30cm by Interhigh and start blocking shots like Atsushi." Aomine played along.
"I do my stretches every day. You'll never know how tall I'll be by then."
The night continued in friendly banter, all negative experience of the day forgotten.
'Ryouta-kun is really upset. Watch out, Makoto-kun. Seirin will take you down. – Kuroko Tetsuya.'
"So you're starting to call everyone using their given names?" Hanamiya asked during one of their nightly practice. Kuroko could read the other a little better by now and it seemed like Hanamiya was a little irritated at something. "What happened to the polite little boy I met at the start of the year?"
"I'm still polite. I also assumed that the fact that you saved your name as 'Mako-tan' on your phone meant that I could address you somewhat informally?"
Hanamiya scoffed, then pulled out his own phone. "If you're going to address me so familiarly, I'm changing your name on my phone. I cannot stand the formality of 'Kuroko Tetsuya'. How does Tsuya-tan sound?"
What? "That doesn't even make sense."
"What about TsuTsu-chan?"
"I'm not a pet, Mako-tan."
"Maybe I should call you something else entirely. How about Little Shadow?"
"Sounds a little affectionate, doesn't it?"
"It really does."
"Why can't you just call me Tetsuya? Or Tetsu?"
"Because your little red and blue call you by those names already. And it'll actually make you happy. That's not what we want now, is it?"
"Mako-tan needs to feel special?"
"You little shit. I already am special. Don't group me up in your dysfunctional colour spectrum of friends." Not wanting to talk anymore, Hanamiya keyed something into his phone and kept it away. It was obvious that Hanamiya was really irritated. "Now, you were supposed to let me practice my version of ankle break."
"I'm not allowing you to break my ankle."
"You don't have a choice. I allowed you to practice your bounce pass between my legs yesterday."
"I'm still not allowing you to break my ankle." Kuroko repeated but was getting worried at the other's insistence.
"You agreed to it!" Hanamiya snarled in frustration.
"You said you were going to practice a move you learnt from Seijuro. This is nothing like that skill."
"It has the same name." Hanamiya's hands moved to grab Kuroko's shoulders. His mood had changed for the worst and Kuroko really didn't know what caused it. "You're going to stand here. And let me practice. Keep your fucking word."
"Perhaps then Hanamiya-san can keep his word as well."
"Fuck."
"Hanamiya-san." Kuroko scolded.
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Now, stand still Tetsu-tan. I promise this won't hurt too much." If Kuroko was afraid of the smirk on Hanamiya's face, he made sure the other didn't know.
"What the fuck happened to your legs?!" Aomine was borderline freaking out. The taller man knelt down to rub at several huge patches of black and blue on Kuroko's calves and ankles. "How did you get so bruised up?!"
"I think I was lucky that I didn't break anything. Thank you for your concern, Daiki-kun. And thank you for my lucky item, Shintarou-kun." Kuroko gestured to the elephant plushie currently in his arms. It was the size of Nigou and felt very comforting to him. The pup was currently with the rest of Seirin and Mitobe offered to take care of him for the next few days (Koganei explained).
Aomine made himself comfortable on the ground and continued to massage Kuroko's legs, while Midorima brought over a cup of tea. The two of them decided to visit Kuroko after Aomine heard from Momoi who heard from Riko that Kuroko was absent from school today. Midorima heard from Takao who heard from Izuki. Kise had work at the moment while Momoi wasn't able to come today because Touou had a match to play.
Aomine was placed on bedrest after Touou's match with Onita High. Aomine had attempted a formless shot and managed to sprain his back. They still won the match by a big margin but Touou's coach wouldn't allow Aomine to participate in any matches until the end of preliminaries.
"So what happened?" Aomine asked.
"I miscalculated. Tripped up a little." Kuroko shrugged, not lying but also making sure not to give too much.
"Have you seen a doctor?" Midorima bent down next to Aomine to inspect Kuroko's legs. "Nothing is broken, right?"
"Nothing successfully broken. Only bruises."
"Don't even joke about it, Tetsu. How long do you need to rest for? You have a match against Shin's team coming up this week."
"I'll be able to play by that time. Don't worry." Midorima and Aomine exchanged looks and sighed.
"You take good care of him alright? Don't let him walk around for now. Ice it if he feels the pain." Midorima directed then moved to pick up his bag. "And you. You're not allowed to carry anything heavy. Sit up straight, get off the floor that's not good for your back. Do some stretches but nothing excessive. I have to attend the final training for our match tomorrow so I can't be watching over the two of you all the time."
"Yes mum." Kuroko replied while Aomine added a "You're such a naggy tsundere."
After Midorima left, it was quite for a while, both bluenettes just enjoying the company. Aomine continued to rub circles on Kuroko's bruises but listened to Midorima's advice and moved onto the couch instead. Kuroko lay flat on the couch, legs propped on his previous light's lap. It was intimate even for them who were the closest out of everyone from Teikou. Kuroko did enjoy the new closeness of the team and didn't mind the direction they were moving in.
"Kagami told me to take care of you before he left." Aomine suddenly started. Kuroko was more irritated than surprised at the news.
"Why does he think I need taking care of? He's the one who's always getting into trouble and you're almost as bad as him."
"You won't understand, Tetsu. It's a light thing."
Kuroko was getting rather annoyed but knew he had to keep it in to prevent things from getting awkward. "We were light and shadow on court. But off court, I felt like we were on equal ground. He watched out for me and I did the same for him. We were partners." The memories brought a lump in his throat. "He actually asked for my opinion before accepting the offer to move back to America. I was thankful that he set me apart from his other friends, but was resentful as well because he placed a heavy amount of pressure on me to make the decision to send my closest friend away."
"How close were the two of you actually?" Kuroko wondered how much he could tell Aomine without some sort of negative reaction from the other. Aomine had stopped rubbing his bruises, seemingly distracted by his thoughts on the subject at hand.
"He picked me up at a time when I hated basketball. He was my light when the entirety of my previous team left me." It was hard to explain the depth of emotions he had for Kagami. It's been 10 and a half weeks since the red head had left and Kuroko still count the days despite having the Miracles back in his life. Kuroko felt Aomine looking at him and had to cover his face with a forearm. "I miss him."
There was a pause before Aomine answered. "Yeah. I miss playing with him too." Kuroko was pretty sure the other wasn't that daft. If Aomine wanted to pretend then let him.
"But you have us now, Tetsu. We'll help you and we'll never leave you again." Aomine continued.
"And I'm thankful for that. But it's different." Kuroko swallowed. He didn't say he had two lights and they both have a record of leaving. "It's alright. I'm just being selfish."
Aomine reached out to hold Kuroko's hand. Kuroko squeezed back. The rest of the evening was spent resting in each other's company with comforting gestures that Kuroko didn't want to think about.
Kise arrived close to ten at night after his match to the sight of his two blue haired teammates sleeping on the couch, Kuroko curled into a ball on Aomine's lap with a pillow to prop his head up and a stuffed elephant cuddled in his arms while Aomine's head was tossed back to rest on the backrest of the couch, fingers intertwined with the smaller boy. Kise couldn't help but smile at the sweet picture but also felt a well of emotions seeing the two together. The legendary pair that used to be inseparable, got broken apart, and now found their way back again.
Pulling out his phone, he took a photo of the sweet sight and sent it off.
'Your shadow is in good hands - Kise'
A/N: To make things clear for the texting in Italics, the sign off name is actually whatever the receiver saves the sender's name as. So for example, in Kise's phone, most of them are saved as xxxx-cchi.
So, 'Your shadow is in good hands. – Kise.' means that Kagami saved Kise's name as Kise (how boring bakagami). This is important to take note because upcoming chapters will have some texting and the sign off name will give an indication of who's receiving the messages. Hope this clear things up!