Chapter 2

Kuroko couldn't say that he was surprised when he didn't see Aomine in his first class, although he was rather disappointed.

What he was surprised about was that Aomine was apparently in his third period, and that he showed up to that one. Aomine looked a bit surprised to see Kuroko there as well.

"Move." He said to Furihata once he walked over to where Furihata and Kuroko were sitting next to each other.

"Aomine-kun, you can't just –"

"No, it's fine Kuroko. I'll just sit in his seat." Furihata assured, quickly gathering his things and moving three desks over.

"Aomine-kun, that was rude." Kuroko said as Aomine sat in the recently vacated seat.

Aomine shrugged. "Not really. This was originally my seat, but Furihata wanted to sit here, so we just switched since I wasn't here most of the time anyway. All I'm doing is taking my seat back."

"You could have at least asked nicely." Kuroko persisted.

"Could have, but I didn't."

Kuroko would have replied if the teacher hadn't decided that it was time to start class. There didn't appear to be a bell in the school here, just a lot of clocks.

"Kuroko Tetsuya isn't here?" The teacher asked as he marked attendance.

Aomine rolled his eyes and spoke up before Kuroko could. "For people who want to stick your noses all up in Tetsu's business you're sure bad at noticing when he's in a room." He said, pointing to Kuroko with a bored expression.

The teacher glared at Aomine, who merely smirked back at him and waved, but marked Kuroko present, apologizing to Kuroko for not noticing him, before starting the lesson.

It only took ten minutes before Kuroko noticed Aomine had fallen asleep. It was an exceptionally boring lesion that day though. Kuroko found himself drifting off probably twenty minutes later.

It felt like only minutes later, but Kuroko was sure that it was longer, before he felt someone shaking his shoulder. "Tetsu, come on. The teacher didn't notice you sleeping before, but I'm sure whoever sits here next period is going to notice." He heard as he looked sleepily up at Aomine, his vision blurred slightly from just waking up. He blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes, Aomine coming into focus before him, giving him a disapproving look. "You lecture me about missing class and all that bullshit, but you sleep in class." The taller boy accused as Kuroko quickly started gathering his things. Well, that explained the disapproval at least.

"I stayed awake long enough to know that I wasn't going to learn anything new. And then I got sleepy." Kuroko said, picking up his book bag and walking out of the class with Aomine.

"Well, I want you to teach me whatever it is you do that keeps you from getting caught." Aomine said, throwing an arm around Kuroko's shoulders.

"You're looking to stop getting in trouble?" Kuroko asked, looking up at Aomine, who seemed willing enough to just walk Kuroko to his next class without mentioning if Kuroko was going the same way Aomine needed to go.

Aomine scoffed at the idea. "Hell no. I am looking to keep from getting woken up though. It's a pain in the ass. I want to sleep without getting woken up every ten minutes. The teacher didn't wake you up once. I want that power." Aomine told him.

"Sorry, but I don't think you can do it. You've got way too much presence. I think it comes with being a loud mouth. People tend to notice those."

Aomine laughed, ruffling Kuroko's hair. "You've got a mouth on you too, Tetsu."

"Not as much as you. This is my class." He slipped out from under Aomine's arm.

"Well, I'm already going to be late to mine since I waited for you to wake up and then walked you here."

"This school is tiny. You can make it to your next class even if it's on the other side of the school." Kuroko replied.

"Eh, sounds like effort. I think I'm going to ditch instead. I'll see you around."

"I hear you have become friends with Daiki." Akashi said as they worked on the worksheet the teacher had handed them.

"Yes." Kuroko replied without looking up from the sheet.

"I expect you to exert caution in hanging out with him. Ryouta has gotten into trouble several times by not paying attention to what Daiki is doing when he is in the vicinity."

"I've only been here for two days and you already have expectations for me. I'm not sure if that means I've been doing something right or wrong."

"Neither yet. I'm expecting you to do right, however."

And that was the end of the conversation. Akashi wouldn't let his grades suffer to simply warn the new kid about his choice of friends. Especially when Akashi himself associated with Aomine.

"Why is it that all of your friends keep trying to warn me about you? If you're really worthy of so much concern, why do they hang out around you?" Kuroko had decided to go up to the roof for lunch the next day. He'd found out from Momoi that that was where Aomine spent most of his time during the school day. Now, they were sitting across from each other, sharing Kuroko's lunch.

"Because all of my friends are assholes." Aomine declared.

"I don't think that's true, but, supposing it is, why would you hang out with them?"

"Because I'm one too. We've got to stick together."

"Can I get a more concrete explanation, Aomine-kun?" Kuroko asked, tilting his head.

Aomine let out an exaggerated sigh to let Kuroko know what he thought of this topic, but he started talking anyway. "They hang out with me because the majority of the student body here knows they are never leaving this town. They're going to grow up, marry each other, take over their parent's jobs, have kids, and the cycle will continue. They'll find some kid starting trouble among one of their kids to disapprove of. People hate change, but they love it at the same time. That's why they are all so obsessed with you. You're new. You're different. You're someone they haven't known their whole life. They like and hate me because, even though I'm not really doing anything all that bad, I mix things up around here. They hang out with me because I'm a change from the rules."

"So, in other words, they hang out with you for the thrill since they don't think they'll have it latter." Kuroko said.

"Yeah, basically. I mean, half the people who hang around Akashi are doing it to see when he'll snap. What about you, Tetsu? Why are you hanging out with me? I can't be the most outrageous thing you've seen since you aren't from the middle of nowhere."

"I hang out with you because I like you." Kuroko said simply, shrugging his shoulders. "Why do you hang out with me?"

"To get food from you." Aomine joked, taking another bite of Kuroko's lunch.

"I'm afraid I will have to terminate this friendship then. I cannot afford to feed you all the time if you intend to continue eating the way you did when we got food a few days ago." Kuroko told him.

"Sure you can. You don't really eat, so the money that would normally go to your food just goes to paying for mine."

"Aomine-kun should find someone else to fund his eating habit."

"Like who? Satsuki? I'd like to live long enough to leave this town, thank you very much."

"She can't be that bad." Kuroko said doubtfully.

"Ignorance is bliss. Never let yourself find out that she is that bad."

They went on like that until Kuroko saw people going back inside, meaning it was probably time for him to get to class. He tried to convince Aomine to go as well, but he gave up when it appeared he would be late if he stayed any longer.

Kise hugged him and asked him why he hadn't had lunch with him when he saw him in the hallway on the way to class, and Kuroko didn't really get the chance to answer since the hug knocked him over and he had to go to the nurse –who wasn't even a nurse, just the gym teacher- to get an icepack. He got more annoyed with Kise following him around apologizing all day than he did with having to hold the icepack onto his head.

"So, I heard Kise beat you up. I would have bet money on you winning in a fight with him." Aomine said, falling into step beside Kuroko when school let out.

"I'm sure that's not what you heard, and I don't know why you think I'd win in a fight against him." Kuroko replied.

"Actually, that is what I heard. And I figured that was bullshit because Kise would never start a real fight, especially not with someone he thinks of as a friend. So, I asked someone else and they told me what actually happened. But I would totally bet money on you winning a fight with him if it ever came to one."

"You'd lose that bet."

He threw his book to Aomine when the other raised his fist and Kuroko pulled one of his disappearing acts, putting himself behind the other.

Aomine caught the book and after a moment located Kuroko and grinned. "See. I'm twice as tall as you and have way more muscle, but I can't even get in a first punch because you've got a career as a magician ahead of you. That's why I'd bet on you winning a fight. Against anyone but Takao or Akashi. Whoever you fight won't land a punch." Aomine explained, holding out Kuroko's book to him.

"I'm going to be a teacher." Kuroko informed him, starting to walk again.

"Good for you. You can entertain your classes with magic tricks. Nothing you pick will make me think you aren't working magic into whatever you do in the future."

"It's not magic. Just misdirection." Kuroko told him. It appeared from the direction they were walking in that they were going to Shutoku.

"Yeah, I don't know what that is. You're going to have to explain a bit more."

"Watch me." Kuroko instructed.

"Gladly." Aomine said with a smirk that had a light pink tinge coming to Kuroko's cheeks. He ignored it though and tossed the book to Aomine again. Aomine easily caught it.

"You looked away from me." Kuroko told him and walked into the drug store.

"But that's not fair. You distracted me." Aomine complained, walking in behind him.

"That's the point."

They went over to the bar stools in front of the part of the store that sold food and each ordered icecream. Kuroko got Vanilla and Aomine went for chocolate. It wasn't long before Midorima and Takao replaced the guy behind the counter.

"Te-chan! How's it going?" Takao asked, leaning on the counter and grinning.

"It's fine. How are you Takao-kun?"

"I'm fantastic despite being forced to wear orange, which really isn't my color, while I'm working here. It's okay though, because it looks worse on Shin-chan." He said with a laugh.

"Takao, shouldn't you be working? Other kids are going to start showing up soon." Midorima interrupted their conversation.

"We're actually pretty popular despite Shin-chan being rude to everyone because of the stick up his ass and saying my personality drives away customers." Takao stage whispered to Kuroko and Aomine, but moved to start cleaning anyway while Midorima went about restocking shelves.

Sure enough, other students did start showing up and ordering food or drinks or just shopping in general. They gave Aomine and Kuroko their space, but were clearly watching. Kuroko wasn't used to the feeling of being watched, and he liked it less when it was a bunch of people than he did when it was Takao doing it.

"Hey, loosen up. You're eating ice cream. You can't look uncomfortable while you're eating ice cream." Aomine said, shaking Kuroko's shoulder lightly. Well, what Aomine probably considered lightly. It shook Kuroko's entire body.

"What if it's bad ice cream?" Kuroko questioned with a tilt of his head.

"No such thing. Thus, I rest my case. You can't be uncomfortable while eating ice cream." Aomine said firmly. Kuroko gave him a small smile. "Better." Aomine said, ruffling Kuroko's hair. Kuroko batted his hand away and started eating again.

"You know some people spend time on their hair." He informed him.

"And you're one of them?" Aomine asked incredulously.

"You clearly haven't seen what my hair looks like when I first wake up."

"Nope, but I've got a new goal to do that. You've got my curiosity. You can probably spend the night some time. My mom loves you."

"Your mom hardly knows me." Kuroko said with a frown.

"Yeah, but she loves anyone who I invite over." He said with a shrug.

They chatted a bit longer before deciding to leave. Takao waved goodbye to them and Midorima pretended not to notice them walking out.

"So, teaching huh? I think you'd make a pretty good teacher." Aomine decided, putting his arm around Kuroko's shoulders as they walked towards Kuroko's house. "What grade do you want to teach?"

"Kindergarten. I've always loved kids, so teaching them seems like a good idea." Kuroko answered.

"Kids freak me out. Maybe that will change if I ever have one, but I couldn't be paid to baby sit even if someone would trust me with their children." He said, frowning at the ground.

"Kids freak you out?" Kuroko asked with amusement.

"Fuck yeah they do! Little hellions. You have to be so careful with them all the time. The smallest wrong move can hurt them. But then, they do things like crash a bike into a tree and they get right back up and say they're fine while they have blood leaking out of their heads. Plus, they're like perpetually drunk without any alcohol involved."

Kuroko outright laughed at him this time. "Exactly. You can never be bored. They'll always do something to surprise you."

"I can do without the surprises." He said definitively as they reached Kuroko's house.

"So, I think this has been a pretty successful first date. Do I get a goodbye kiss?" Aomine asked with a smirk as Kuroko started to unlock his door.

Kuroko looked over his shoulder at Aomine with slightly widened eyes. Sure, he'd been able to get that Aomine had been flirting with him, but he hadn't thought he'd be so direct about it. "Maybe when we aren't quite so out in the open." Kuroko replied. He could guess how well that would go over in this town if they were seen.

Aomine looked a bit disappointed, but nodded anyway. "I'm holding you to that." He said, flashing a grin before starting back in the direction of his own house.

The next day Kuroko found out that Aomine really was going to hold him to that. He was walking in the hallway of the school when the taller boy grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to a supply closet.

"Aomine-kun, I'm going to be late to class." Kuroko said once they were inside.

"They won't even notice." Aomine assured before moving in to kiss Kuroko's lips. He was probably right. With that in mind Kuroko let Aomine kiss him. He reached behind himself and locked the door to prevent any interruptions before he started kissing back.

Aomine pushed him up against the door as he pushed his tongue past Kuroko's lips to explore the inside of his mouth, tilting his head to get a better angle.

Kuroko wrapped his arms around Aomine's shoulders, one hand moving up to tangle in the taller boy's hair.

Aomine was the one to break the kiss first to breath, his hands moved down to Kuroko's ass, using it to lift him. Kuroko wrapped his legs around Aomine's waist, which helped get rid of some of the discomfort from the height difference. Aomine's hands started to wander over Kuroko after he started kissing him again.

And that was when the door opened. Aomine's hands on him were the only reason Kuroko didn't fall over when the support of the wood was lost. He quickly disentangled himself from Aomine so that he was just standing next to him, looking between the door and Aomine's smug features.

He couldn't even notice the look of horror on the janitor's face. His mind was racing too quickly. He had locked the door. He knew that he had. Aomine on the other hand . . . he didn't seem surprised at all. It hit Kuroko like a punch to the gut.

The janitor left, presumably to get the principal, and Kuroko turned to Aomine.

"You're using me, Aomine-kun." Kuroko said with a sad smile. He had just been another rule to break. Another way for Aomine to get in trouble to spite the town. Aomine had known someone was going to come in and he'd unlocked the door to make sure they were seen.

"What were you expecting? Everyone warned you about me." Aomine wasn't looking at him. He wasn't denying it either.

"You didn't." He waited, but when Aomine didn't say anything Kuroko decided to leave before the principle could get there.