Title: Lion Tamer
Characters/Pairings: Kuroko/Aomine, Midorima
Summary: Kuroko needs a distraction, which Aomine is happy to provide.
Notes: Adult for smut. For basketbizzle at Tumblr, who asked for Aomine and Kuroko in the circus. 2317 words.

Lion Tamer

"You know those things are going to kill you," Tetsu said when he came around the corner of their trailer and caught Daiki with a cigarette in his mouth.

If he'd said it with the least amount of criticism in his voice, Daiki would have told him precisely where he could have taken his concern and put it, but Tetsu might as well have been commenting about the weather for all the weight he gave it. Daiki took a long drag off the cigarette and exhaled the plume of smoke. "Would have to live long enough for that to happen, I guess."

"Mm." That was the sort of thing that Tetsu did take offense at, but this time all he did was pluck the cigarette out of Daiki's fingers.

Daiki raised his eyebrows as Tetsu raised it to his own mouth instead of stubbing it out in the dirt. "I thought you quit."

Tetsu propped himself up against the wall of the trailer and wrapped his mouth around the cigarette; he didn't answer, not until he'd smoked it right down to the filter and ground the butt out beneath his foot. Daiki hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and waited him out, listening to the sounds of their encampment as it began to settle down for the night, the noise and laughter from a few trailers down where Kise and a few of the other acrobats were still burning off the excess energy of the performance with an impromptu party, and the complaints of the lions, nocturnal by nature and wanting to be let out of their cages for exercise. Daiki could sympathize with that, but it was too hot to go play with them. Besides, there was Tetsu right there next to him. Much as Daiki loved his cats, some things still took precedence.

Eventually Tetsu said, abrupt, "You know we barely made box tonight."

Daiki considered and discarded a number of possible replies. It was their third night of performances in this sleepy little town; it was a little town, right out in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere; of course he knew they'd barely made box—he'd seen the empty places in the stands, hadn't he? He settled on shrugging. "But we did make it." And after tomorrow's show, they'd tear everything down and move on to the next town and start all over again with a fresh audience. There was a rhythm to these things, one that Akashi and Satsuki between them had managed to get down to an art.

There wasn't much light to see by—the moon was dark and the lanterns around Kise's trailer only penetrated so far—but he could see the way Tetsu frowned, the corners of his mouth drawn tight. "Yes, but—"

"We made it, Tetsu." Daiki nudged his shoulder against Tetsu's, bare skin sliding against bare skin. Like the rest of them, the first thing Tetsu did after a show was strip down to the bare essentials, especially when the summer night pressed down on them, sticky-hot and still. Daiki was pretty sure it pained him right down to the depths of his formal little soul, but it wasn't really like they could afford to have one of their star attractions keel over from heat stroke, either. "You worry too much."

"Someone has to," Tetsu said, tone dark.

"Yeah, and his name is Akashi."

Tetsu made a sound, discontented, and Daiki decided that perhaps stronger measures were in order. He nudged up against Tetsu again and stayed close, running his hand down the slim line of Tetsu's back, following the curve of his spine through the thin cotton of his undershirt and slipping his fingers into the back pocket of his cut-offs. "You're really worrying too much," he said again, fitting his fingers to the curve of Tetsu's ass and squeezing.

Tetsu tilted his head, looking up at him. It might have been a small smile, barely worth the name, but it was better than the frown. "I gather that you're proposing to distract me from that."

"The thought had sort of crossed my mind," Daiki admitted.

If Tetsu snorted at him, well, he didn't exactly object to it either when Daiki gathered him closer, and in fact tilted his head back when Daiki bent to kiss him. He must have been ready to be distracted, because he closed his hand on Daiki's shoulder and kissed back, open and greedy. His mouth tasted of their shared cigarette, smoke and nicotine, and he made an appreciative sound against Daiki's mouth when Daiki closed his teeth on his lower lip and sucked.

Daiki hummed back and pulled Tetsu a little closer, settling him against the line of his body and sliding a leg between his. Tetsu made another sound, this one deeper, husky, when Daiki drew him up against his hip and held him there, and wound his arms around Daiki's shoulders as he rocked against him. Daiki laughed against his mouth and kissed him again, letting Tetsu grind against him and enjoying the lazy heat unfolding between them.

Things were starting to get interesting as Tetsu rocked against him, hard against his thigh, when Midorima wandered past and had to throw cold water on things (thankfully not literally this time). "Oh, for pity's sake," he said, pissy as a wet cat. "The show ended several hours ago. Must you do this in public?"

Daiki flashed the finger in the general direction of their knife-thrower's voice, but Tetsu pulled back a bit. "Our apologies," he said, breathless and not sounding all that sorry to Daiki. "I suppose we got caught up in the moment."

"That much is obvious." Midorima paused, as if waiting for them to do something, fuck alone knew what. Then he sighed. "Your trailer is right there," he added, pointing at the door. "I suggest you make use of it."

"Prude," Daiki said, but he supposed Midorima had a point. Letting Tetsu rub off on him right then and there had its attractions, sure, but there were much more interesting things they could be doing indoors. "All right, fine." He unwound his arms from around Tetsu and made for the door. "Coming, Tetsu?"

"I certainly plan to," Tetsu murmured, just a hint of wicked humor to it.

Daiki laughed at the horrified sound Midorima made and held the door for Tetsu. "You're terrible."

"I know," Tetsu agreed, stepping up into the trailer after him and letting the door bang shut behind him.

It was hot inside the trailer, even with the windows open to catch the nonexistent cross-breeze, and it wasn't like being inside was going to give them much more than a pretense at privacy—well, if any of them had cared about such things, they probably wouldn't have been in the circus in the first place.

Daiki grabbed the collar of his undershirt and peeled it off, tossing it in the general direction of the dirty laundry pile. He had to guess, because neither of them had bothered to turn on the lights, but that didn't much matter. They'd spent enough time navigating the shared space of their trailer to be able to do it in the dark. He kicked his shoes off and shucked out of his jeans and nearly jumped out of his skin, too, when Tetsu ghosted up behind him and slid warm fingers down his back. "Fuck, Tetsu, warn a guy!"

"What fun would there be in that?" Tetsu laughed softly and pressed his open mouth against Daiki's shoulder.

The soft brush of his tongue made Daiki shiver; he closed his eyes when Tetsu pressed closer, fitting himself against Daiki's back, and slid his hands down Daiki's ribs and over his hips, reaching around him and closing them on his cock. "Tetsu..."

Tetsu hummed a wordless reply as he traced his tongue along Daiki's skin, mapping out some pattern that made sense to him alone. He fisted Daiki slowly, sliding his fingers over Daiki's cock, just this side of too slow, until Daiki gave in and groaned for him. He reached back, groping through the dark, and threaded his fingers into Tetsu's soft hair as the slow back and forth of Tetsu's fingers tugged pleasure through him. Tetsu set his mouth over his spine and sucked until Daiki could feel the sting of a mark rising there; the feel of it ran through Daiki, hot and sweet, drawing him taut, and Tetsu laughed softly as he stroked his tongue over that spot. "What do you say?" he asked, voice hushed against Daiki's skin, and pressed against him, rubbing against him.

Daiki shuddered against the slow, suggestive slide of Tetsu's cock between his thighs. "The magic word is please, right?"

Tetsu's laughter was soft and real, the way Daiki liked it best. "For some reason, I'm not sure my audiences would believe that." He moved his hands to Daiki's hips and held him, the subtle pressure of them turning him towards their bed and coaxing him forward. Daiki let him guide him through the darkness until Tetsu stopped him from dropping himself onto the mattress. "Not tonight," he said, soft. "Lean forward, Daiki."

The sound that came out of his throat might have come from one of his cats, Daiki thought, and obeyed, reaching out and finding the cabinets over the bed and bracing his hands against them. He set his feet wider, too, flexing his knees as Tetsu reached away from him. A drawer rattled in the darkness; when Tetsu slid his fingers against Daiki's entrance, they were slick.

Daiki closed his eyes against the first hard stretch of it as Tetsu pushed his fingers in, sinking them deep, and felt the veneer on the cabinets go slick beneath his palms as he rocked back against Tetsu's fingers. "Yeah," he said, voice rough in his throat. "Yeah, Tetsu, c'mon."

Tetsu huffed softly and closed his hand on Daiki's hip, holding him and stilling him as he worked his fingers deeper. "Don't be so impatient." He twisted his fingers, slow, and tightened his grip on Daiki when that made him shudder. "There's no hurry."

"So what?" Daiki shuddered again as the shift of Tetsu's fingers sent a ripple of pleasure up his spine. "I want you to go ahead and fuck me anyway."

"Mm." Either Tetsu didn't find that persuasive or he just didn't care, because he didn't bother to adjust the leisurely movement of his fingers. He stroked them against Daiki slowly, like he meant to take all night about it.

That wasn't outside the realm of possibility, actually, so Daiki let himself groan, low and open, when the next twist of Tetsu's fingers made heat curl through him. "Tetsu, please..."

He heard the way that made Tetsu suck in a breath, like he'd been surprised, and he groaned again when Tetsu crooked his fingers and the pressure of them made the lights dance behind his closed eyelids. "Since you ask so nicely."

"Guess it is the magic word," Daiki said, flexing his fingers against the cabinets and savoring the wave of anticipation as he listened to the soft, wet sound of Tetsu slicking his fingers over his own cock and the low, husky sigh of Tetsu's voice. He took a deep breath as Tetsu took hold of his hips, canting them just so, and let it out again when Tetsu pressed against him, sinking in deep. "Fuck, Tetsu..."

Tetsu leaned against him, hot against his back, and exhaled a shuddering breath against his shoulder. "Daiki." He stroked his thumbs in circles against Daiki's back, holding him steady, and began to move.

Daiki curled his fingers against the cabinets and let his head drop as Tetsu fucked him, groaning as each slow roll of Tetsu's hips made heat flare up his spine and sing along his nerves. Their trailer was hot and airless; he sucked in deep breaths of muggy air and still couldn't quite catch his breath, couldn't keep himself from feeling dizzy with the steady coil of pleasure twisting low in his gut. Tetsu's skin was hot everywhere it touched his, slick with their mingled sweat, and Tetsu's voice was soft and hoarse against his shoulder as he whispered nonsense into Daiki's skin. It might not have been nonsense, but Daiki couldn't have told the difference, not when he was rapidly losing all sense of where he left off and the rising heat began.

Then Tetsu slid his hand down and closed still-slick fingers around his cock, and Daiki dissolved entirely as the coil of pleasure came undone and flooded through him, long waves of it lapping through him and leaving him wrung out and dazed when it finally receded. Daiki leaned heavily against the cabinets over the bed and let Tetsu's hands help brace him as Tetsu fucked him, each little roll and hitch of his hips drawing another ripple of pleasure through him, until Tetsu finally tensed and shuddered against his back, groaning as he followed Daiki down into pleasure.

Daiki caught Tetsu's weight when he sagged against his back, and it was a while before either of them moved to clean up the mess and drop themselves into their bed. It was probably still too hot to curl up together, but that didn't stop Tetsu from tangling himself around Daiki or resting his cheek against Daiki's shoulder, or Daiki from sliding his fingers through Tetsu's hair.

Tetsu sighed, long and slow and soft, the whisper of it tickling against Daiki's jaw. "Thanks."

Daiki grinned into the darkness and ruffled his hair. "No problem," he said, taking deep satisfaction from the loose, relaxed sprawl of Tetsu's body against his. "All part of the service."

Tetsu didn't say anything to that, but when he pressed his mouth against Daiki's chest, Daiki could feel the curve of his smile, and that was good enough for him.

end

Comments are always lovely!

(If you're playing along at home: Akashi is the ringmaster, Aomine is a lion-tamer, Kuroko is a magician, Kise is an acrobat, Midorima is the knife-thrower, and Murasakibara is the strongman. Momoi helps manage the whole thing and largely does not appear in the ring anymore, but in a pinch, you should see her fire-eating act.)