Hey guys, thank you so much for the reviews, favourites and follows! It always brightens my day when I receive these notifications!
So, I'm always apologising for the late updates but this time was a little different, I actually had more than half the chapter written up the day after I posted the last one but by the time I got back to it, I had completely forgotten what direction I wanted it to take so I decided to just start over.
This one's a bit of a longer one and will wrap up all the side romances, I know some of you have been asking for Aomine/Kuroko romance and since you probably stumbled upon this story because of the pairing it's only fair that I focus on them so I PROMISE that from this chapter onwards it's just going to be them!
Hopefully you enjoy this, and as always feedback is appreciated! :)
Chapter 9
For the first – and last, Kuroko added emphatically to himself – time in his life, the sixth man of the Generation of Miracles attempted to refuse to obey his former captain's whims and reject one of his famously torturous plans. There was no way on earth, this entire freaking universe in fact, that he would be able to keep a stoic game face on if he made a move on him – real or not. Plus, no matter how deep Aomine-kun's feelings ran for his former shadow, once he saw that Akashi was interested in Kuroko, he would back off faster than a chipmunk could stuff its cheeks full of nuts when another chipmunk threatened its stash, kind of like Kagami with a steak actually.
"…Akashi-kun, please…"
A pair of heterochromatic eyes gazed silently into pale blue ones that were slowly beginning to waver. Right before Kuroko could sigh in frustration and throw his hands up in defeat, Akashi blinked and a chilling smile curled the corners of his lips.
"You're right Tetsuya. Daiki would not…respond well."
"Talk about the understatement of the entire history of histories," Kise muttered under his breath.
Other than the subtle narrowing of laser sharp eyes – which sent the blonde who had spoken just seconds before to run and cower behind his tallest team mate, trembling all over – the red head seemed to brush aside the interruption and began to outline his back-up scheme.
One which made Kuroko pale even further. Thankfully another voice chimed in, tentatively cutting off Akashi. Whilst the red heard upgraded his mildly annoyed look to an irritated glare, he pondered absently that it seemed to him, like it was a day of death wishes.
"What about Kagami?" Midorima queried. "He would be a suitable candidate, after all Aomine already shares an unhealthy rivalry with him and Kuroko clearly – "
"NO."
Heads of all colours of the rainbow spun around to stare incredulously at their leader. The only other time they had heard him so purposefully forceful was when he had booted Haizaki out. And that was a can of worms no one wanted to touch with a ten foot pole reinforced with a hazmat suit.
Although there was a myriad of logical arguments whirling around Midorima's head, he wisely chose to keep them to himself. Instead he opted for the safest route of action; he clamped his mouth shut and waited patiently for one of his former team mates to put their foot onto the proverbial land mine waiting to explode. His bets were on Kise.
Sure enough, after 2 long minutes of heavy silence the blonde basketball player was already bouncing on his toes with unbridled curiosity and after 3, he was actively biting on his tongue to keep from speaking but he lost the battle at 3 minutes and 27 seconds.
"Why Akashicchi?"
The others winced and mentally gave thanks for their resident imitator's life and prayed for his safe passing into the afterlife. They were understandably left spluttering with shock when all their captain did was to reach up and ruffle the blonde hairs affectionately and explain patiently, fierce possession evident in his quiet voice, "Because he's mine."
Kise fainted.
Happy, boisterous chatter filtered through the sound of taps squeaking, towels snapping and lockers slamming in the basketball club's locker room. Kagami ran a tired hand raggedly through his flaming hair and mustered up an exhausted smile at his teammates as they trickled out the change room, clapping his back as they passed. Finally, when there was only silence punctured by the sporadic plops of water droplets and Kagami's soft puffs of breath, the red head relaxed and prepared for a scalding hot shower, that is if his team mates hadn't used it all up, before heading home and maybe, hopefully – doubtfully, a voice ridiculously similar to his shadow chimed – study for the maths test tomorrow. At this thought, Kagami whipped his head up and turned in a circle slowly, eyes narrowed suspiciously and prodding the shadows and corners of the room. Convinced that Kuroko wasn't lying in wait to pop out and scare the living daylights out of him – and reflexively waving away the faint concern that the pale boy indeed wasn't around, in fact hadn't been around for the past week – Kagami strolled over to the showers.
Letting the water stream over his body, Kagami worked out the kinks that had developed during the day's practice and allowed his mind to wander. His thoughts inevitably turned to the one person he had been unable to stop thinking about for the past few months, and unerringly, his cock perked in interest. Kagami, having learnt through experience that the damn thing wouldn't leave him alone until he complied with its wishes, slid a hand down his stomach, formed a steady grip at the base of his erection and gave an anticipatory squeeze. Throwing his head back with a drawn out moan, Kagami began to pump, fuelled on by the assortment of images that danced behind his closed eyelids; a small but leanly muscled body, an expanse of smooth pale skin, control and authority dripping from every word and gesture, piercing slightly manic eyes of blood red and molten gold framed by ruby locks and most arousing of all, daintily formed hands that were deceptively strong, overpowering and dominating him. Kagami's breath hitched tellingly with that image in mind and his hand closed tighter and moved faster.
"A-Aka-A-"
"Taiga."
The unexpected interruption of his breathless pants and moans by the smooth cultured voice from his fantasies was enough to tip Kagami over the edge. As he worked himself through his unusually intense orgasm, the fleeting thought that his imaginings were becoming more realistic prickled at the edge of his mind. He promptly shrugged that speculation away as he cleaned himself.
"Taiga."
Jumping at his name and with a hand pressed to his pounding chest, Kagami whipped around – praying that whoever the fuck it was had only just come in and missed the show – cheeks reddened and intending to direct a baleful glare at the intruder, instead all the colour drained out of his face and his jaw went slack as he gaped wordlessly at the apparition of the notorious captain of the Generation of Jackasses.
The slow rise in a perfectly curved red brow snapped Kagami into action.
"Jesus! Fuck, Akashi! W-w-what the hell are you doing here!" Kagami floundered around, simultaneously snapping the tap closed and groping blindly for his towel before slapping it hurriedly over his junk.
Kagami looked up in trepidation as he witnessed a smug sensuous smirk take over Akashi's face. The small Rakuzan began advancing towards him, his gait resembling that of a sinuous panther stalking its prey, slowly manipulating Kagami towards the wall of the shower. When the taller boy's back hit the wall Akashi raised his arms to Kagami's shoulders, framing him and preventing escape.
Kagami gulped under the heavy heterochromatic gaze and began to splutter an excuse, demand for an explanation, anything really at this point. The situation he found himself in was way, way, way, too similar to his flights of imagination for comfort and despite having just come like a minute ago, his cock was raring to go again; he ruthlessly clamped the towel tighter against himself.
"So, Taiga," Akashi spoke effortlessly over his ramblings, and it wasn't fair how wonderful his name sounded rolling off of Akashi's lips or that his half hard cock twitched in response, and if there was any proof that there really was no justice in this world, then Akashi's smirk deepening knowingly and the repetition of that slow drawl of his name was it.
"Taiga," God damnnit, it was closer to a purr this time, "was that my name you were moaning earlier?"
And that answered Kagami's question on exactly how long Akashi had been standing there watching, the pervert. While Kagami scrambled for a logical reason as to why he was moaning the other's name, Akashi was drawn to the beads of water that were slowly making their way from the tips of red strands of hair to the strong angle of Kagami's jaw, meandering down the planes of his neck before settling in the dip of his collar bone. Akashi suddenly felt the desire to lick at the little puddle, and having never been in the habit of denying himself anything, he certainly wasn't going to start now.
Once again, Kagami's words were cut off, and he should really start to get annoyed at these constant interruptions if not for the novel sensation of a small tongue lapping at his neck. The Seirin player froze before a shudder wracked through his whole body and when the little licks turned into nibbles and gentle sucking a guttural groan was wrenched from his throat. Kagami reached out on instinct when he felt his knees starting to give way, clutching at Akashi's slim hips and inadvertently pulled the smaller boy closer to him. He didn't calculate for the towel to fall away, without his hands to hold it into place, and certainly didn't expect to feel an answering hardness from the fiery captain. But it was the eager way Akashi was trying to worm himself closer to Kagami that finally clued him in. With that revelation, Kagami responded in kind. He gently tugged at the others chin, lifting Akashi off his throat and guided him to his lips instead.
That was the last control Kagami was allowed to exert that day.
Meanwhile on the other side of town
Murasakibara was uncharacteristically grumbling his way through town. He had lost by virtue of unanimous voting that he would be the one to carry the unconscious Kise. There were times, increasingly as of late, that he hated his height and envied his smaller team mates. It meant that physical labour wouldn't be forced onto you and it was so much easier to be lovable and adorable when one was diminutive in stature. After all, those were the types of people Muro-chin seemed to chase after all the time. Murasakibara settled into a morose expression at that thought and was content to continue on silently towards Kise-chin's house when a small prod at his side caused him to glance down at his smallest team mate.
Kuroko was pointing at a figure across the street, "Isn't that Himuro-kun?"
A cursory glance confirmed that it was indeed his Yosen friend. A friend who looked strangely irritated…at him, Murasakibara realised with a start. Muro-chin was gazing directly at him as he strode across to their side of the street in long angry strides. It was as he reached the group of Generation of Miracle members that Kise chose to rouse slightly from his faint, snuggling into the warm body that cradled him and slinging an arm roughly around Murasakibara's neck affectionately. All the while, Muro-chin's gaze grew darker and angrier and a fascinating tick developed on the corner of his jaw.
In one swift move, Himuro wrenched Kise's body roughly from a startled Murasakibara and dropped him gracelessly on top of an unsuspecting Midorima. While Midorima struggled with the dead weight of an unconscious Kise and Kuroko fluttered around them trying to help with his meagre strength, Himuro clasped Murasakibara's hand in a death grip and dragged him off.
"Damn it Atsushi, what the hell was that blond oaf doing in your arms, huh? Are you trying to provoke me? I'm the only one who should ever be allowed anywhere near your person, well other than Akashi, I know how much you love him," he petulantly admitted, "I thought you didn't even like those old team mates of yours."
"No," Murasakibara said, content that his Muro-chin was beside him and effectively holding his hand, "I like them. They're my friends and they make me happy. But I'll always like you best, you make me the happiest. You always get me the best snacks."
At this, Himuro softened from his previously heated expression and smiled up at his tall friend fondly, his gaze tender. He stopped his quick pace and rummaged in his pockets before procuring a slim, brightly wrapped package. Murasakibara's eyes widened comically at the sight.
"That's the newest flavour of the really rare limited edition series of an exclusive brand of umaibo!" the tall centre crowed excitedly.
Himuro chuckled and handed the snack over to the eagerly awaiting Murasakibara, "I know, it took me forever to track down a shop which carried them and then I had to place a special order and even then I could only get my hands on a few."
At his explanation, Murasakibara paused in his frantic tearing of his highly prized snack and looked down at Muro-chin with awe and adoration clear in his gaze.
"You did all of that for me?" He asked shyly.
"Of course."
It was the matter of fact tone that made up Murasakibara's mind, he gave one last lingering gaze to the cylinder of deliciousness in his hand before shoving it into his jacket for later. He reclaimed Muro-chin's hand and pulled him tentatively forwards and moving slowly, so that the other boy would have ample time to pull away, he pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. Murasakibara drew back slightly to gauge Muro-chin's response and upon seeing the blinding smile which had overtaken the other Yosen's face he went back for several more kisses.
He soon discovered that Muro-chin's flavour tasted far better than any other snack he had ever eaten, limited edition or otherwise.
"I knew I should have stayed at home today. Oha-Asa said that –"
"As if Midorima-kun would ever have ignored Akashi-kun's summons. Like anyone of us ever could."
Midorima sighed as he attempted to juggle Kise's body, keep his balance and avoid Kuroko's well-meaning help which was more of a hindrance than anything. Just as he thought he had everything in control, a loud protest broke his concentration and he could only watch in dismay as Kise fell out of his grip, his blonde head aiming straight for the unforgivingly hard pavement. Out of nowhere a streak of denim clad Kaijo captain came flying to the rescue, catching his kohai right before the accident could occur.
Honestly, Midorima thought huffily, Kise's life was a freaking fairy-tale. Not only was his former team mate ridiculously good looking and talented in anything and everything that he set his mind to, he also had this brightness that he carried around infecting everyone with happiness, regardless of whether said infected victim wanted to feel happy or not. Although the Generation of Miracles constantly berated and picked on the blonde model, he was an integral part of their group of friends, as reluctant as Midorima was to admit it. They had all disliked that while Kise was so very clearly obsessed with Kuroko, the pale haired boy couldn't return his feelings. So they had tried to distract him, teasing and play fighting in an effort to sooth his hurt, constantly watching and monitoring to ensure that their personal sun would still shine bright. God, Midorima might have just gagged into his mouth at that sappy line of thought. But it was through this close scrutiny that they had all noticed that since the year had begun, Kise had been, well, even happier and more gratingly cheerful than before. It wasn't until Shutoku's first game with Seirin that Midorima discovered the root of the cause. He had seen Kise easily in the stands, he was glowing that brightly. There was a black haired boy in the same Kaijo uniform beside him who engaged him easily in conversation and the blonde's smile had been visible a mile away. Midorima's growing suspicion had been confirmed after the match, Takao and he had stumbled upon the entire Seirin team, Kise and the mystery boy at the okonomiyaki restaurant. He had seen the yearning and tenderness in Kise's expression as his captain had moved to join Takao at another table. Kuroko had noticed too. And from that point on the entire Generation of Miracles had kept an eye on Kasamatsu Yukio and his developing relationship with their Kise.
Now, Midorima and Kuroko watched on as a frantic Kasamatsu checked Kise for any injuries and gently shaking him to rouse him. And just like the movies, Kise blinked open his honey gold eyes and murmured his captain's name before breaking into a beaming welcome smile at him. The relief radiating from the dark haired boy was obvious to anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together. And the picture they formed on the asphalt was nauseatingly sweet; a golden haired beauty sprawled unconscious in the arms of his dark haired dashing prince only to awaken prettily and ride off into the blasted sunset together. With that, the two former teammates traded knowing looks and turned simultaneously and walked determinedly away.
"Kise! You idiot! Are you alright?"
The warm bubbly feeling that appeared whenever his captain was nearby had Kise nodding blisfully and accepting the hand that appeared to help him up. Yukiocchi was still looking at him in concern when the blonde swayed, wobbly on his feet. A pair of strong arms were immediately there, supporting him and Kise leant gratefully into his captain's warmth. They began the short walk home to Kise's house, with Kasamatsu's arm around his waist and Kise, taking advantage of the fact that he was supposed to be invalid at the moment, snuggled happily into the arm, knowing that Yukiocchi would never push him away when he thought Kise to be injured.
As they walked, Kise babbled cheerily, informing his sempai of the recent mischief the Generation of Miracles had created not noticing the way Kasamatsu's body stiffened when he heard of the plan to make Kuroko jealous through Kise's affections. The blonde's voice increased in volume as he related with wide eyes and wild hand gestures that, "Akashicchi likes Kagamicchi! Can you believe it, Yukiocchi?!"
Kasamatsu rolled his eyes in fond exasperation and let his kohai continue talking animatedly, listening diligently and adding comments here and there, content to just spend time with his Ryota.
So what did you think? Leave a message, any critique or otherwise is always welcome!