A/N: howwwwwwdy. i'm back! hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
"Have you guys met before?"
There they stood at last, confronting the inevitable truth that they had buried into the soil. Fate didn't work that way though. It kicked dirt up and liked to make a fuss when you just wanted to live quietly. Hyuuga was standing in between Kuroko Tetsuya and Kagami Taiga, watching the spectacle unfolding in front of him with suppressed interest. This wasn't an everyday scene.
Not many things happened to Kuroko, in fact. Hyuuga Junpei had attended the same high school with Kuroko. Not once had he ever been embroiled in any type of conflict. Not once had a girl confessed to him. Not once had he ever been involved… as of what he knew. He shook his head internally. It was probably time to re-evaluate his opinion of Kuroko Tetsuya.
Kuroko was staring expressionlessly at Kagami, and Hyuuga almost wanted to laugh. It was his normal expression, but there was something different about it. This guy obviously unnerved him. Why? Why were they related?
Kagami spoke up, surprising Hyuuga. He ran a hand through his hair (in ease or nervousness?) and grinned. There was something unnatural about it.
"Oh… yes. We've met at a goukon before," Kagami said.
Yeah right, Hyuuga wanted to snort out loud. A meeting at a goukon would definitely leave Kuroko Tetsuya flustered and unperturbed. As the two began a stiff and awkward conversation, Hyuuga crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at them, trying to remember anything that would help him-
Wait a second.
Hyuuga stood up straighter and felt his mouth open a bit. That morning on the subway… The love-bite blazinga starkly on Kuroko's pale neck…
He tried to keep the amazement off of his face, but he must have made some sort of weird expression. Kuroko and Kagami dropped their façade for a few seconds to look at him.
"What's wrong?" Kagami asked.
"Oh! Nothing, nothing. It's awesome that you guys know each other already. You guys will do great on court together," Hyuuga said just to prod them a bit. He watched in amusement as one of them turned pale and one of them turned red.
"Uh…" Kuroko coughed.
He decided to relieve them of their painful encounter.
"Hey, Kuroko… I need to ask you something about Comm 101," Hyuuga said idly.
"…Okay," Kuroko said after a pause. Neither of them was taking that course, but that was the point.
"See you guys then, I have to get to class," Kagami shoved his hands in his pockets.
"You better come to practice!" Hyuuga said sternly.
"Yeah, yeah," Kagami tossed them a wave behind his shoulder and left.
The gym doors closed and an eerie silence followed suit.
"So that's him?" Hyuuga deadpanned.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kuroko seemed to glare at him without really glaring at him at all. He was good at that sort of thing.
"The guy you slept with. The guy who gave you that," Hyuuga tapped his neck and almost laughed out loud at the sight of Kuroko's pale face. Sometimes it was just too fun getting a reaction out of people that usually showed little to no expression.
Kuroko turned away from Hyuuga and said nothing.
"Okay, I'm sorry. That was a little mean of me," Hyuuga apologized.
"Apology accepted," Kuroko said.
He didn't pry any further and things were left at that.
The storm slowly swirled into a blaze and the next week passed without incident. Kuroko wondered if the whole thing was disappearing without a trace but he knew that life didn't work out that way. He was on shift at the library, idly playing on his phone and waiting for someone to approach him for help. It wasn't a proactive day for him. In fact, it rarely was ever a proactive day at all.
What were the chances, anyways?
What were the chances that Kagami Taiga happened to be in the same University? What were the chances that Kagami Taiga happened to be in the basketball club?
What were the chances he would be gay?
Little to none?
Kuroko bit back a loud groan and set his phone down onto the table a little more roughly than usual. A shadow fell upon his hand and Kuroko looked up to see who needed help.
He blinked a few times to make sure the appearance of Kagami Taiga in front of eyes wasn't a hallucination. He was wearing a dark grey sweater that hugged his body in a not-too-overly tight way. A ring was hanging from his neck from a metal chain- come to think of it, had it always been there? Where had he seen it before…
"Hey," He said quietly.
Kuroko stared up at him.
"When are you off…? Can we talk?" Kagami continued.
Kuroko wondered how he knew that his schedule was free after work today. Had he been… watching?
"I'm off in 10. Can you wait?" Kuroko said.
He nodded and smoothly put his hands in his pockets and headed towards a more secluded area. Kuroko looked down at the table after his back disappeared behind a bookshelf. It was time to formulate a solid opinion on this, no matter if it was fake or real. He needed something to grab onto when he was unsure.
And it seemed that he was unsure a lot lately.
Ten minutes later, Kuroko had hastily packed his belongings and did his best not to look up as he was doing so. The last of the papers were in his bag and he finally lifted his head to see Kagami looming over him. He couldn't stop his mouth from twitching once.
"You ready?" Kagami raised an eyebrow.
Kuroko dipped his head in agreement and followed Kagami out of the building. It seemed as if they were walking forever, with Kuroko staring blankly at Kagami's back. When Kagami suddenly stopped, Kuroko found himself bumping into his back abruptly.
"Woah, sorry," Kagami spun around and grabbed Kuroko to prevent him from falling. He was fine without help though, and Kagami realized this a second afterwards. He dropped his hands awkwardly to his sides and stepped back.
They had found themselves in an area of the campus where it was littered with park benches and huge over hanging trees. It was cold, and Kuroko had to force himself to keep from shivering. He steeled himself and sat down on a clean-looking bench. Kagami sat down beside him, and the creak of the wood groaning under their weight was loud.
"So…" Kagami started.
Kuroko looked up and did the sensible thing to do.
"Can we just start over? Pretend nothing happened?"
"Pretend… nothing happened…?" Kagami echoed faintly.
Kuroko peeked at Kagami. Why did his face look like he was thinking otherwise?
"I won't even ask you how you happened to be there… how we happened to end up in the same room…" Kuroko muttered.
"Aren't you even-" Kagami started loudly but stopped. He snapped his mouth shut so quickly Kuroko was almost curious to know what he was going to say.
"Let's not make this worse than it has to be. We can even be friends," Kuroko said.
"You sound… so enthusiastic," Kagami grumbled.
"Oh, but I am, my dear friend," he said.
Kagami gave a tiny snort. Their conversation ended. Kagami hadn't given any clear sign of consent, but Kuroko knew that there was no other way out.
As Kagami walked back to his dorm sullenly, he tilted his head back and stared at the darkening sky with a sense of disappointment. Fuck. What was he expecting out of this anyways? It was just one huge unfortunate incident to Kuroko Tetsuya. But what was it to Kagami Taiga?
He wanted to find out.
He wanted to find out everything about Kuroko. He wanted to find out everything that had led to that night. And most of all, he wanted to find out if everthing was just a sick coincidence or was it fate. He couldn't deny it; those were some pretty slim chances that they would be this close to each other in reality.
Wasn't Kuroko even curious?
He had to be.
This was something different. Circumstances had brought them together unexpectedly and Kagami took it as a sign. This could go somewhere.
And it had to. He wouldn't rest until it did.
He would become Kuroko Tetsuya's friends, for starters. He needed to begin somewhere. And from then on, he just hoped that fate would be more kind. Because Kagami wasn't a big believer of fate, but this time he wanted to take a chance.
He looked back onto the path with new determination and hastened his way back to his warm dormitory room.
r&r!