Art was something that screamed loudly at Akashi. It was always beautiful, whether it was a painting, a sketch, dance, music or even graffiti. Of course, graffiti art wasn't always legal, but it was something that caught the redhead's interest.
Akashi was a smart kid, he was twelve when he first started "marking territories" with spray paint. Later on, when he turned fifteen, he began to simply create meaningful art with graffiti. Now, as a seventeen year old, he was constantly going out at night to complete murals in a matter of a few hours.
His parents didn't know about it. In the day time, Akashi was the perfect student but at night, he was artistic and the leader of a graffiti gang.
These gangs were separated throughout the city. Akashi had a small, strong group called, "Anecdote". The members were Kise, Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara. All of them were art enthusiasts and all of them liked a little danger of being caught.
Akashi hid bags of spray paint around the city in small alleyways, holes in trees and sometimes with homeless people. The redhead was careful. He couldn't keep spray paint around his apartment because that would be too obvious and his parents visited often.
Of course these days graffiti was accepted a bit more than in the past, but Akashi didn't have permission, so he continued to stay in the shadows.
One day, when Akashi went to his gang's get together area, there was another gang's symbol spray painted over his.
The redhead frowned and observed the symbol. Akashi sketched the symbol into his notebook and tried to connect it to the gangs around Japan.
"Hey, do any of you guys know where this symbol is from?" The redhead asked his gang members.
They were getting ready to paint so most of them had masks on. Aomine stared wide eyed at the symbol and said,
"My friend is in that gang..."
The redhead smiled, "And your friend is...?"
"Kuroko Tetsuya. He doesn't mean harm though, their gang doesn't really mark territory. I think he's just interested in our gang. He probably just wants to talk." The tanned boy explained, trying to defend his friend.
"Interesting way of getting my attention..." Akashi mumbled, "So, where is he?"
"I'm here." A voice called out, "I'm not coming down though."
The redhead turned his head towards the voice and saw a small figure perched around the windows.
"Akashi Seijuro." The voice said.
"Uh...yes?" The redhead responded.
"I want you to stop creating art. My group appreciates art much more than your group and we just create it better too." The voice said in a harsh tone.
Akashi frowned and said, "Art is meant for everyone. You don't have the right to tell me what I can or can't do."
"Well, you can either join my group or I'll get rid of your group."
Aomine began yelling, "Tetsu? What are you doing?"
"Shut up, Aomine-kun. This was bound to happen. There's not enough space on the city walls for multiple groups to create art. So I figured I could get rid of some." Kuroko mumbled.
Akashi bravely approached the boy's figure and said, "Yeah? And you have how much power to force me to stop?"
The cold barrel of a gun pressed lightly against the redhead's forehead, "I'll shoot you." Kuroko said with a stern voice, "I've always wanted to shoot a member of the Akashi family. The great fall of a leader and no one will know who shot him."
The redhead scowled and said, "You don't have the balls to do it. How did you even get a gun?"
Kuroko cocked the gun with lightning fast speed and shot the gun, aiming at Kise. The bullet missed by a few inches and embedded itself in the wall beside the blond's head.
"Darn, I missed." Kuroko mumbled as he pointed it back towards Akashi, "I definitely won't miss again."
The redhead frowned and then spat out, "I'll disband my group."
The blue haired boy smiled and said, "Thanks." And then he disappeared.
Kise began to cry and he asked, "Akashicchi, are we actually going to disband?"
The redhead turned around and grinned, "Of course not. As if I'm going to lose to that shrimp. We're not disbanding, but from now on it's going to be really dangerous. They have guns...so, if you would like to leave then go ahead."
When none of the members left the building, Akashi gave them a rare warm smile and whispered a tiny 'thank you' before explaining his plan.
"We'll let them have their way until a certain point. We're going to memorize the times that they are out painting and where they are painting. We're also going to find out their main hideout. We can't meet here anymore, so we'll just secretly talk at school. Once we know where they'll be at all times, we'll go out and paint. Paint right beside their paintings and make it obvious it's us. Only this time, they won't be able to do anything to us. This Kuroko Tetsuya can't do anything while we stay in the public's eye. All we have to do is make a point that we belong in the city as well. When you're out there painting, no one is going to look after you, so don't get caught."
Everyone nodded and then they quickly left the hideout. For the next few days, they spent their time mapping out Kuroko's schedule and then they made their move.
Every painting that the blue haired boy's gang made, Akashi's group painted beside it and made witty remarks.
Kuroko was quick to notice the slander painted alongside his art and he grew furious. The blue haired boy swore he would hunt down Akashi.
The day after that, Akashi was sitting in class looking out the window when the teacher announced that there was a transfer student.
"This is Kuroko Tetsuya. He's a new student here and I hope you all treat him well."
The blue haired boy didn't look at anyone but Akashi. The redhead did the same. Their eyes burned each other but they didn't look away.
"Kuroko-kun, you can take that seat beside Akashi-kun if you want." The teacher said.
The blue haired boy smiled, "I'd love to." He said before walking towards the redhead.
Akashi smiled and continued to stare at Kuroko.
This is getting interesting. The redhead thought.
Once classes ended, the redhead made his way to the roof to meet up with the others. Kuroko walked beside him. They didn't talk. They just walked side by side. When Akashi turned a corner to get to the stairs, the blue haired boy shoved him against the wall.
"I swear to god, I'll kill you." The blue haired boy muttered.
"With all these students watching?" Akashi said with a smirk.
Kuroko looked around and noticed that a lot of students were staring at them, some of them giggling.
The blue haired boy frowned and then let him go, "Just...keep walking."
Kuroko followed closely behind the redhead as Akashi made his way to the roof.
When the group saw Kuroko, they all glared at him.
"Tetsu...You have some nerve coming here. I thought you were a friend." Aomine said.
"I just needed to use you to get to Akashi-kun and get rid of your group." The blue haired boy mumbled as he sat down next to the redhead who was eating silently.
"Oi Akashi! Are you okay with him being so close?" Midorima asked.
Akashi shrugged, "I don't mind. I always wanted a dog."
Kuroko glared at the redhead and Akashi flashed a smile.
For the whole day, the blue haired boy followed Akashi. On the way home, the group made sure to stay as a group to prevent Kuroko from picking them off one by one.
The blue haired boy couldn't hurt them in any way though. There were too many people. Nonetheless, Kuroko stuck to Akashi like glue. When everyone in the group left, it was only Akashi and Kuroko together.
"Aren't you going to shoot me now?" The redhead asked.
"It's not a real gun, idiot. Air gun, still painful, but shouldn't kill you."
"Well, I guess we'll just walk and not kill each other like normal people." Akashi said with a slight smile.
The blue haired boy nodded and they quietly walked side by side. When Akashi got home, he texted his gang and they went out to paint some more to show the blue haired boy that they weren't afraid.
The next morning when Akashi entered the classroom, Kuroko pushed him out and dragged him to the nearest empty room.
"Akashi Seijuro, you've got some nerve painting beside my painting. I told you to stop painting shit." The blue haired boy said.
The redhead smiled, "You can't exactly prove that I did it."
"Just...stop."
"Bite me." Akashi said and then he turned the tables. The redhead grabbed Kuroko and pressured him so that his back hit the wall.
"You know if we're always pinning each other to walls like this other students are going to think we're something." Kuroko mumbled.
"So what? I enjoy having you against me." The redhead said.
The blue haired boy's face slowly turned red and then he pushed Akashi and went back to class.
During lunch, the redhead walked towards the roof with Kuroko close behind him. Akashi looked forward and saw an angry mob coming towards him.
"Uh oh..." The redhead mumbled, then he grabbed Kuroko's hand and dragged him off, "come with me."
"What..?! Akashi-kun? What are you doing?!" The blue haired boy yelled as he resisted against Akashi's grip.
The redhead quickly shoved Kuroko into the janitor's closet and shushed him.
"I said be quiet. They're coming."
"Who's 'they'? Let go of me!" The blue haired boy squirmed in the tight space of the closet.
Akashi slapped a hand over the blue haired boy's mouth and said, "Let's just say I'm not really loved in the school."
Kuroko bit the redhead's hand and tried to yell at him again. Akashi saw the students approaching the closet but he needed the blue haired boy to shut up.
"Akashi-kun, I swear to god I'm going to kill-"
The redhead roughly kissed Kuroko. The blue haired boy let out a small whimper as he tried to push the other away.
Akashi pulled the blue haired boy closer and messily kissed him. Kuroko didn't know whether he was pushing Akashi or pulling him closer. In the end, they both decided to hold onto each other. The blue haired boy clung to Akashi and let out soft noises as the redhead wrapped his arms around Kuroko's waist and pulled him even closer.
When Akashi pulled away, he listened carefully to make sure the people who were following him were gone.
"I think we're safe. Those were some guys who are mad at me for stealing their girlfriends. I can't help it if a girl falls in love with me though." Akashi explained.
"You think too highly of yourself." The blue haired boy said harshly, his face slightly pink.
They were both panting in the darkness of the closet. Akashi stared at Kuroko and then without thinking, he leaned in and kissed the blue haired boy softly on the lips as if he was apologizing.
The blue haired boy was more stunned with the gentle kiss than anything. He didn't know how to react. The only thing he was able to think about was how soft Akashi's lips were. The kiss wasn't rough and messy like before; it was innocent and it made their hearts pound.
Kuroko closed his eyes and kissed back lightly, his arms wrapping around Akashi's neck.
It was Kuroko who snapped out of it first. The blue haired boy's eyes flew open when he heard himself let out a small moan and Kuroko quickly pushed the redhead before running out of the closet.
Akashi stayed in the closet a while longer, thinking about what he had done. The redhead blushed hard when he replayed everything that happened in the past ten minutes in his head. After calming down, the redhead made his way to the roof towards his friends.
"Akashicchi, where were you?" Kise asked curiously, "And where's Kurokocchi?"
"He's, uh, busy." The redhead responded slowly before sitting down to eat his lunch.
The next day, when Akashi and Kuroko sat beside each other in class, the blue haired boy whispered,
"You painted on my painting again last night."
"When you come to me with proof, maybe I'll admit it." Akashi whispered back.
"And if I do get proof? I can get you arrested or your other members."
The redhead didn't seem shaken by the blue haired boy's statement and he calmly said, "My friends would never get caught. I'd like to see you try and get a picture of one of them."
Akashi turned to face the blue haired boy and leaned closer until his lips were almost touching his ear and then he whispered,
"Try to catch me."
Kuroko didn't flinch. He held his head high and said, "Watch your back."
The first one who attacked was the blue haired boy. When school was over, Kuroko walked with Akashi all the way to his house and said,
"I'm not going to leave."
The redhead smirked and then answered to the blue haired boy's attack, "Why don't you come in and sleep in my room tonight then? It's too cold out here."
Kuroko smiled as well and entered Akashi's home.
The redhead lived alone in an apartment, far from his doting parents.
"You're not worried that I'm going to take a kitchen knife and stab you in your sleep? Or strangle you...?" Kuroko asked while putting his bag down.
The redhead smiled and shook his head, "Not at all. This apartment is pretty new so I don't even have kitchen knives and I don't believe you'll do the strangling method."
Since Kuroko didn't have a change of clothes, Akashi gave him his shirt so he could be comfortable when sleeping. When they both got to the redhead's room, Akashi said,
"You sleep on the bed. I'll take the floor."
"No, no, no; I can't do that. You sleep on the bed, I'll take the floor." The blue haired boy responded.
"Tetsuya, as much as we hate each other you're still my guest and I will not have guests sleep on the floor." The redhead said.
Kuroko could have accepted Akashi's offer but the blue haired boy was too stubborn to let the redhead get what he wants, so he said, "You're my host. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own house."
Akashi sighed and then said, "Let's just both sleep on the bed."
They were both silent for a while and then the blue haired boy nodded in agreement.
And so, they lay on the bed, back to back.
"Tetsuya, make sure your back is touching mine when we sleep, okay?" The redhead said.
"Why?" Kuroko asked but shoved closer so they were lightly touching.
"If you move I'll wake up. Just in case you actually do decide to strangle me." Akashi mumbled.
They were quiet for another few minutes when the blue haired boy said, "I wonder how you can get your boys to paint when you're stuck here with me."
"They get around." The redhead mumbled and then said, "Go to sleep."
Kuroko closed his eyes and tried not to worry about Akashi's gang. All he thought of was the slight warmth connecting them together at their backs.
In the middle of the night, the redhead felt Kuroko move away from him and he snapped awake. Akashi turned slowly to see that the blue haired boy had curled up into a tiny ball. After a while, Kuroko turned to face the redhead and he mumbled in his sleep,
"Sei-kun...S-Sei-kun."
The redhead's face turned the same hue as his own hair when he heard his given name fall from those lips. They were supposed to hate each other, yet being this close almost pulled them together.
Akashi slowly moved his arm so that it was resting on the blue haired boy's waist and lightly pulled him into his embrace.
Kuroko snuggled closer to rest his head in the crook of Akashi's neck.
In the morning, Kuroko woke up first to see the redhead's chest in front of him.
The blue haired boy slowly looked up to see Akashi's sleeping face and thought, It'd be so easy to get rid of him right now.
His thoughts were interrupted when his phone flashed on to notify him that he had a new message. Kuroko tried not to wake up Akashi as he reached for his phone and checked his messages.
Ogiwara: What was with you last night?
Kuroko: What are you talking about?
Ogiwara: We got a text from an unknown number, it said it was you and then you told us to erase all of our art.
Kuroko stared wide eyed at his screen.
The blue haired boy figured that Akashi had done it so he straddled the redhead's hips and slapped him right across the face.
The redhead started awake and he swore that Kuroko could potentially kill him right then and there judging by his expression.
"Tet-su...ya, what..?"
Tears streamed down Kuroko's face as he continued to weakly hit Akashi, "You told them to erase everything! You...you told them to destroy their own art. Monster. You're a monster. How could you?"
Kuroko's strength was slowly fading as he moved his hands to wipe the tears away,
"How could you?"
"Tetsuya, I don't understand what happened."
The blue haired boy shoved his cellphone towards Akashi's face and showed him the exchange of texts with Ogiwara, "You sent that text, didn't you? You sent that awful text to my group from your phone."
"Tetsuya, I didn't write that. I appreciate all art. I would never want your art erased, I just wanted to share the space. I didn't do that." Akashi said in a firm tone.
The blue haired boy continued to cry and the redhead gently pulled him into his embrace. That was when Akashi's phone blew up with a whole bunch of messages.
Ryouta: I hope you're happy, Akashicchi.
Daiki: Yeah! Working us to the bone like that, even this is taking it a bit too far.
Shintaro: I still can't believe we erased all our art in one night...
Akashi stared in disbelief and he nervously texted back.
Akashi: What are you guys talking about?
Daiki: What do you mean? You ordered us to erase all our art. An unknown number sent a text stating it was you and you said to erase our art.
Atsushi: Yeah Aka-chin, don't you remember?
"What...is this?" The redhead muttered as he slowly got up in a sitting position with Kuroko still in his arms. Realizing that they were both victims, they decided to call a temporary truce to figure out who had ordered their friends to erase their art.
Kuroko and Akashi realized that the tension between them wasn't exactly enshrouded by hate but more like a desire. They both had a desire to be closer with the other. But they expressed most of their desires through aggressive actions.
They fought a lot. They would shove each other frequently when they didn't agree on something but after school, they would sleep together with their backs touching. They felt comfort knowing that they were feeling the same way. Having all their art stripped off of the city walls made their hearts feel empty.
In the morning, Kuroko would find himself tightly encased in Akashi's arms and he would feel a light tug in his chest, as if his body remembered the redhead more than it should. Kuroko was more aggressive out of the two and the redhead was more patient and passive. When they both ended up in the janitor's closet again because of Akashi's 'enemies', they were both quiet.
But it was Kuroko who leaned towards the redhead and kissed him. Akashi let the blue haired boy move closer and he responded to the kiss gently. The kiss made the redhead dizzy, his mind twisting into a jumbled ball of thoughts. Then, Akashi fainted.
"Akashi-kun?" Kuroko mumbled as he held the redhead's weight.
The redhead woke up five minutes later with all his memories. When he saw Kuroko in front of him, he couldn't feel any happier.
"Tetsuya... I'm sorry. I didn't...get much sleep."
"It's alright. Do you want to go to the nurse's office?" The blue haired boy asked.
Akashi shook his head and lightly grabbed Kuroko's hand, "No. I'm alright."
The blue haired boy blushed when he felt their fingertips brush together.
During lunch, they discussed who could have possibly erased all their art.
"Well, it's gotta be someone close to us. I don't see why another group would get involved with our business." Kuroko muttered.
The redhead thought for a minute, "I have an idea who it might be but I'm not sure yet."
"Really? Who?" The blue haired boy asked.
Akashi smiled, "I'll tell you when I know for sure."
Though he regained his memories, Akashi tried to stay as passive as possible. But it got harder and harder as the days went by.
One night, when they were sleeping with their backs touching, Akashi decided to make his move. The redhead turned around and nuzzled his face into Kuroko's neck. The blue haired boy flinched awake and asked,
"Akashi-kun, what are you doing?"
"Admit it Tetsuya," Akashi mumbled, "admit that you like me."
"What?! I don't like you." Kuroko said.
The redhead teased Kuroko's sensitive areas, he leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Then look at me."
The blue haired boy shivered and curled up, as if trying to get rid away from Akashi.
"I can't." Kuroko mumbled.
"Oh?" The redhead questioned as he lightly bit the blue haired boy's ear, "Why can't you look at me?"
The blue haired boy shook his head, "I just can't."
Akashi wanted his Tetsuya back. As much as he loved Kuroko no matter who he was, the redhead wanted to share every moment with him. The redhead lost his patience and turned Kuroko over to face him.
They stared at each other in Akashi's dark room, the only light provided being the moonlight. Blue eyes glowed as the redhead leaned in and claimed Kuroko's lips.
Memories rushed back to the blue haired boy. Kuroko winced in pain as a headache washed over him. Akashi cradled the back of the blue haired boy's head to comfort him.
"Are you alright?" The redhead asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kuroko mumbled as he moved closer towards Akashi, "Fuck, I'm sorry for being so mean to you all the time. Seijuro, you know I love you."
Akashi smiled, "I love you too. I guess I should tell you who erased our art."
"None of that matters now." The blue haired boy said as he trailed his fingers through the redhead's hair.
Akashi hummed in agreement but then said, "It was Daiki, Ryouta and Shigehiro."
Kuroko sat up in disbelief, "You're kidding. Why would our own group members do that?"
The redhead shrugged, "They probably got sick of us having so much tension so they wanted to get rid of it by starting completely fresh."
"I guess that makes sense. Are we going to keep making art?" The blue haired boy asked.
Akashi rubbed his eyes, he started to feel tired from Kuroko's fingers as they kept trailing through his hair, "First sleep, then tattoo, then art."
The day after, they got their tattoos and realized that they only had 65 lives left together, but they weren't as upset as they were before. They needed to stay strong for each other and keep their health in top shape to avoid comas. Maintaining their mental health was the best way to prevent fainting, comas and maybe something even worse that could happen later on. Akashi and Kuroko made sure to exercise their minds every day and they created art together. They sold their art to people and museums and continued to store the money within their shared bank account.
Even after many years, they continued to sleep with their backs touching slightly or their hands touching. It comforted them to at least be connected by some warmth. As they grew old together, they felt happy with their life. Though Kuroko had been intimidating at first, they had smoothed out all their problems and though Akashi seemed "passive aggressive" he returned to his usual assertiveness.
Kuroko was the first to pass away. Akashi passed away a few years later.