Fingernails

Kise does not care for Kuroko very much the first time they meet.

Not only does Kuroko seem like barely a person, but what Kise can see, is not much to write home about.

Even when Kise sees his captain brush his fingers over Kuroko's knuckle, he shrugs it off as a personal preference.

But it is not until Aomine, in all his side-smiling, shoulder-swaying glory, throws his arms around Kuroko and smiles and laughs that Kise thinks he might have been mistaken.

"Are Captain and Kuroko a, ah, thing?"

Aomine stares at Kise for a few solid seconds, his mouth around a hamburger before unfreezing his limbs and dismissing the idea. "There is no use in getting into it. Akashi is hard to read and if he hears you talking shit—s'not worth it." His focus returns to the hamburger.

"I like both," Kise says suddenly.

"You don't mean Akashi and Tetsu?"

"Girls and boys."

Aomine shook his head, "You do you, bro."

Kise smiles his first real smile in a long time.

Kise cannot help himself. Aomine is the only one who he can talk to, so the poor guy gets to hear all of Kise's nervous verbal ticks and his small, unfinished stories; even the things he says that he later regrets, the sharp judgements about people, the offhanded, unnecessary flack.

"Girls are so soft."

Aomine hummed in agreement while he cleaned off his muddy sneakers.

"And they always smell good—you realize that?"

"Uh-huh."

"But guys just have really big hands, which I'm kinda into."

Aomine is just listening, but Kise still feels warm in his chest.

It suddenly becomes obvious that something has changed within Akashi, and by painful extension, Kuroko.

Kuroko accidently and maybe unintentionally reaches out to Kise, in one moment asking him a question he does not want to know the answer to.

"Are we friends?"

The sun is too hot. Aomine cannot believe that after all this time, he cannot believe just how hot it gets, popsicles and all. His gums are stinging with cold but he can feel the skin on his shoulders peel with every full inhale. Especially the sigh he lets out as he watches Kise's eyes follow a single drop of sweat as it made its way from Kuroko's temple to his jaw.

"Hey," Aomine barks as he aggressively but lazily nods at Kuroko. He holds his hand up, palms towards the small boy.

Kuroko blinks at the hand, then looks at Kise to make sure he is not missing some kind of joke.

He is.

Kuroko reaches up with his own right hand, now palm-to-palm with Aomine, who is practically glaring at him across the dangerously chipped picnic table.

Now Kise feels like he is missing some kind of joke.

"You're like one of those church kids who get their balls chopped off to be able to sing."

Kuroko withdraws his hand and shrugs, his attention falling back on his quickly-melting popsicle.

Kise is back in on the joke, he realizes as Aomine gives him a harsh, taunting stare. "Me too!" Kise grins, holding up his hand to Kuroko, who, reasonably, looks at it suspiciously.

Kise can not help but notice the hesitation in Kuroko's movement. He smils to himself as Kuroko's fingers twitch a bit before he presses them into Kise's.

Aomine rolls his eyes.

Kise's heart almost jumps out of his mouth as he grips Kuroko's fingers. "Your hands are so small!"

The next time Kise sees Kuroko's hands, a fingernail is missing.

Kise does not answer Kuroko's question right away. His concept of friendship is a little bit warped. He thanks the modeling industry for that. All friends are rivals but not all rivals are friends. It is sometimes a hard distinction for Kise to make, but not this one. When he looks at Kuroko, he sees someone who does not want anything form him except his best.

"Of course we're friends, Kurokocchi!"

So I guess "interconnected" refers to themes that sort of follow this pair throughout their lives. It's also fun to write and makes me feel sneaky.

I'm still not on board with Akashi so I'm not sure how he is gonna end up.

Review if you want but also because I want you to.

xoxo