Kuroko rarely smile.

All of his friends testified it, from Teikou to Seirin.

And they all said almost the same thing, that Kuroko only smiles when there's something worth smiling. And even then his smile was reserved, a small smile fitting his character.

Kuroko might be just one of the many reserved kind of people.

But some that really close to him, like Aomine or Kagami and Akashi, noticed other moments where Kuroko smiled.

"Tetsu? Ah, right... he rarely smile don't he? But I often saw him smile when he play basketball. He really love basketball." Aomine said.

"Kuroko... he'll smile when he bump fist with me of course! And when we win matches! Also when the Seirin team gathered together, there are some times that he smiled out of nowhere..." Kagami testified.

"Moments where Tetsuya smiled? He'll smile when he saw human behavior." Akashi said, voice not missing a beat. Unwavering, without any doubt. "He often smile when he saw the most natural things people do. That's what made him interesting."

"Akashi-kun, did you know? That people wear a faҫade, a mask." Kuroko once asked Akashi. In library, where Akashi read a book across Kuroko and Kuroko stop his reading for a moment to grasp his surroundings.

"Ah, the many faces of human? Yes, I've read of it before it."

"I think that it's interesting. How human instinctively made a self-defense mechanism, even though what they're facing is not necessarily a threat." Kuroko said as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"But Tetsuya, 'a threat' is different with each people. Depending on the person, the 'dangerous' things in their mind may differs." Akashi said.

"Ah, you're right. And many people also wear the faҫade on everyday basis for the sake of appearance."

Akashi closed his book. "It's back to the person again. There are also people that could feel safe without wearing any faҫade."

"Then, when did you wear yours, Akashi-kun?"

"I'm wearing it now."

Silence fell for a few seconds.

"Is there something you think as dangerous, Akashi-kun? Are you afraid of something?"

Instead of answering the question, Akashi said, "Have you heard something around the line of 'Not minding of how we look in others' eyes, as long as we can draw that one person's eyes to us'?" he asked.

"Yes... I've heard of something similar..." Kuroko answered as he wondered about the sudden change of topic.

Or it might be related?

It's Akashi Seijuurou after all. His mind works like an enigma and Kuroko tried to solve it.

But maybe... Kuroko didn't need to think so hard.

Because some answers to unspoken questions might already laid before our eyes, without needing us to think overly hard.

It was proven, that Akashi was not so much of an enigma Kuroko have thought,

"That's what I'm doing right now. This is my faҫade I use in front of you."

But Akashi could be very surprising with words.

"I'm afraid of losing you," Akashi said, more to answer Kuroko's previous question.

His tone was not allowing any objection, even if Kuroko doesn't have anything to object.

Akashi's hand reached to caress the side of Kuroko's face. Softly, carefully, lightly.

"I don't want to lose you."

There was a little bit of wistfulness laced in his voice. Maybe if any other person heard it, they won't notice it.

But Kuroko wasn't any other person.

Kuroko cradled the hand on his cheek, and let a smile show up. Gone as fast as the wind, but Akashi was sure he had recorded it into his memory.

Kuroko closed his eyes as he said, "I'm here, Akashi-kun."

Akashi let go of Kuroko's cheeks and started ruffling his hair instead, a smile in his face.

Kuroko could feel his cheeks heat up seeing that smile.

Kuroko wasn't used to Akashi's smile. Because—

Akashi rarely smile.