Inspired by Poker Pair because I adore them so much. And I know it's a late update, life's caught up with me uwu I'll be sure to speed through the next chapter, though. If my brain agrees. Meh.
Teiko Arc is giving me so many feels ;A; All the AkaKuro and AoKuro feeeeeeels. Asdfghjkl; beautiful bbs.
Thankius for all the support! You guise make my day every time~
Anyway, read on and let me know what you think!
When he pushed open the door to the bar, the first thing that crossed his mind was that he was in the wrong place. At second glance though, he realized that the reason for his initial impression was the furniture that looked like they were scattered haphazardly throughout the space that had previously been occupied by tall, thin tables and bar stools. Now, larger, round tables covered in green felt were being arranged, along with more serious looking chairs. Aomine stood in the doorway, at a complete lost. He didn't recognize any of the people who were busy prepping the place. Plus, he didn't know that the bar made such a big deal out of poker night.
"Aomine-san!" His head snapped around at the voice towards the long bar. He smiled in relief as he recognized the man behind the bar waving a greeting at him. Gingerly avoiding the furniture that almost seemed to be moving themselves, he made his way over to the bar where the raven-haired man gestured to a seat in front of him.
"Kuroko-san told me you'd be joining us tonight." The man said, picking up a glass and filling it with some beer before handing it to Aomine across the counter.
Accepting the drink with a nod, Aomine looked around him one more time. "Where's Kagami?"
"Back of the house," the barman replied with a jab of his thumb in that direction. "He's spending some quality time with the Accounts file."
"Does he even have the brain capacity to be doing that unsupervised?" Aomine asked drily with a quirk to his lips. The other man chuckled and shook his head in mock rebuke. Aomine raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't think so?"
"He's my boss, don't put words in my mouth."
"I'm just asking for your opinion."
"Yeah well, ask me when I'm off duty. I don't want to get sacked."
Aomine snorted. "Like he'd ever have the heart to sack you. On that note, what are you doing up front?"
"I'm always up front on Monday nights. Kagami can't handle the volume by himself."
"I never knew that Poker Night was so popular here. What's so special?"
The man smiled a secretive smile. "You'll see."
"Oi, Ahomine." They both started at the loud voice from across the floor. Aomine rolled his eyes. There were only a few people who called him that, and for this one, he had a nickname to match it.
Blinking disinterestedly at the source, he replied. "All the numbers already muddled your brain up, Bakagami?"
"I don't want to hear that from a policeman," came the answer. Kagami took the seat beside him and accepted the glass of water that was handed to him by Himuro.
"What are you saying?" Aomine growled. It wasn't that he hated the redhead, but the two of them could not remain in the same room and not find something to argue about. He didn't feel bad about it because he was mostly sure that the feeling was mutual.
"You're not even trying to prove me wrong," Kagami mocked with a shake of his head. No, he took that back, he hated the bastard.
"You still sore about that last loss?" He retorted snidely. It had been some time since he'd been on the public basketball court where the two of them had had a number of epic clashes. With his time spent between work and Kuroko, he hardly had the time for TV series, nevermind a bout of basketball. Their latest battle had been one-on-one nearly three months ago and Aomine had emerged the victor.
Obviously.
"Children, children," The fight was interrupted before it even had a chance to gain momentum. The neutral party held a hand in front of each of their faces in a sign to stop. "If you can play nice just for one night I'll give you both a lollipop."
"What the hell Tatsuya," Kagami growled at the man. "I paid for those damn sweets."
Aomine wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but he laughed along with Himuro. The tension dissipated and the dark-eyed man left the two to sip on their respective drinks in companionable silence.
"So," Kagami pursed his lips in thought. "How's it going with Kuroko?"
He hadn't really discussed the evolving relationship he had with Kuroko with his friends. It wasn't for lack of curiosity on their part, but they knew that he was busy and respected his privacy. Though in Midorima's case it was probably due to the fact that his life was just as hectic as his to give a damn. Kagami, on the other hand, wasn't really a friend. Before this he'd considered him a pain in the ass, but a good opponent which was why he put up with him. However, now that he knew that the redhead who was eyeballing him curiously was a good friend of Kuroko's, he couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, give in to the temptation and tell him to fu—mind his own business.
"Hasn't he told you?" It wouldn't hurt to make him beg a little.
Frowning, the redhead shook his head. "He told me that I should ask you when we met so that we don't sit in totally awkward silence and he can find out what you think about him through me."
"Are you sure you're supposed to reveal that last bit?" Aomine asked dubiously.
"He never said not to." Honestly, the man was too simple for his own good.
"You'd make a horrible cop," Aomine muttered into his glass. Kagami heard him, however, and flashed him a dirty look.
"You implying I can't keep a secret?"
"At least your ability to read between the lines has improved, congratulations!" The tan man returned with a sardonic smile.
"You should consider the implications before you insult me."
"Why, you gonna try to beat me on the basketball court again?"
"Because I'm a bartender. And you've been drunk here before." Kagami tossed back with a smirk. Horror started to dawn on the navy-haired man. "Betcha' don't want people knowing about your d—"
Aomine withdrew his hand immediately, looking faintly apologetic. It was completely by reflex that he had reached out and clamped a hand over Kagami's mouth even though there wasn't anyone in a vicinity close enough to hear the lowly voiced words. Kagami merely grinned at him looking – he'd like to convince himself – very much like a deranged person. Although, the truth of the matter (which he would deny vehemently) was that the grin showed a perfect set of white teeth and the mischievous spark in the blood red eyes would send a tingle down anybody's spine. Not like there was a shaft of electricity that flashed down his backbone. And if there had been it was entirely due to the cold air blasting out of the air-conditioning unit.
"What time do you start?" He asked abruptly. There were topics that he wasn't ready to approach while he was sober. Apparently though, it was all fair game when he was intoxicated. Kagami took the bait and glanced at the large clock mounted behind the bar.
"Soon. Kuroko should be here in a few minutes. I'm gonna go make a last round." With that, and a nod, he was gone.
From his perch, Aomine watched the flurry of activity as last minute changes were barked out and a whole box containing unopened decks of cards was produced. The second the clock hit seven, there was the creak of the door as people began to trickle in.
It was probably ten minutes later that he caught sight of the fluffy tuft of sky blue hair.
"Tetsu!" He called, waving until the other man caught sight of him, ignoring the pointed look he received from Himuro. At least he hadn't gotten up and bounded over to the smaller man like he really wanted to.
"You're early," Kuroko said by way of greeting as he stepped within earshot. Planting a hand on Aomine's thigh, he leaned forward to peck a chaste kiss to the tan man's lips before settling down on the stool beside Aomine. Inside, the detective's heart spluttered to a stop and restarted with a bit of effort. Gesturing to the layout of poker tables that were slowly being occupied by every type of character the world had to offer, Kuroko smiled at him questioningly.
"What do you think?"
"I didn't realize Monday nights were so big here." Aomine replied honestly.
Kuroko chuckled. Before he could reply, though, a large group of guys made a noisy entrance. Immediately spotting the brightly-haired couple at the bar they drifted over to them, each of them practically shouting a greeting as they smacked Kuroko heartily on the back and eyed Aomine curiously.
"You must be the infamous Aomine-kun." One of them piped up. He was the tallest of the lot, even though all of them were above average Japanese height, and had a shock of brown hair and a friendly grin.
"Infamous?" The said man queried. He'd never met any of them before, and it was doubtful that they were referring to his past exploits.
"Yeah!" A shorter, black haired member of the entourage chipped in. "You're the first date Kuroko's brought to Poker Night."
Aomine felt a warm, fuzzy feeling wrap around his insides like a blanket and he looked to the man beside him for confirmation. Kuroko merely shrugged nonchalantly.
"I didn't know you kept track of things like that." He monotoned, looking at the others blankly.
"We don't," A bespectacled man interjected. "We know this because he's only the second guy we've met."
"Sempai!" Kagami approached them from across the floor, grinning widely. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming today."
"And miss Poker Night?" The raven-haired man said incredulously.
"What he means is that he really wanted to see Aomine-kun."
"Shut up, Hyuuga." He shot back with a frown. "If you scare him away Kuroko-kun will get angry."
"Er." Aomine wasn't sure what the excitement was about. Had Kuroko told them a lot about him? Seeing him looking uncomfortable, the smaller man held out a hand with a pleasant smile.
"The name's Izuki. That's Hyuuga, Kiyoshi, Mitobe, Koganei, Tsuchida, Furihata, Kawahara and Fukuda." He introduced each of them in turn. Aomine was feeling a bit nervous right then. He wouldn't be expected to remember all their names, right? Accepting the outstretched hand, he shook it with what he hoped was a polite nod.
"Aomine. Though you all already know that," he replied somewhat drily.
"Don't let Hyuuga get to you. We're here every Monday night. We were just curious about you 'coz Himuro said you were really good-looking." Izuki said with a dismissive wave at the bespectacled man.
"We all went to high school together," the tallest guy spoke up. Kiyoshi, was it? "With Kuroko and Kagami. It's like a weekly meet up every Monday."
"Oh, but Aida said she'll be late," The man named Hyuuga said. His words were directed at Kagami who looked slightly disappointed but nodded understandingly.
"Have any of them made it to the first table yet?" Kuroko asked Kagami, his words making everyone else jump slightly. He'd almost seemed to have vanished while conversation flowed around him.
Kagami locked eyes with one of the staff manning a large table at the other end of the bar and had a silent conversation with him that was comprised of head shakes, nods, and funny eyebrow movements. He turned back to Kuroko with a nod. "They're starting soon. There's only one extra spot left."
"What do you say, Aomine-kun?" Kuroko questioned him. "Up for a game of poker?"
"I don't know," he said slowly. Everyone playing looked deadly serious and focused. Besides the area they were at, the rest of the place was filled with a tense silence. He had thought that it would be a small table of relaxed gambling. "I'd feel bad taking away all their money."
Kiyoshi whistled low while the others burst out laughing. "Well, if you need incentive, you should hear what the grand prize is."
Aomine raised an eyebrow in silent askance at his companion. With a slow, gorgeous smile, Kuroko answered. "Me."
xx
It had been a while since he'd felt the thrill of adrenaline that gambling provided. And by a while, he meant at the very least, five years. Still, his rusty skills improved at an abnormally fast rate, and he had managed to accumulate a decent pile of money in the short time he'd been playing. He glanced one more time at the cards he held and with calm, steady movements he made some adjustments. Across the table, Kuroko too, had a mound of money in front of him, one that was substantially larger than Aomine's. Wearing that look of concentration that Aomine adored, he was arranging his cards as well.
After the initial shock of hearing Kuroko say that the grand prize was himself, Aomine had been given a crash course on how Poker Night worked by his friends. The detective was told that Poker Night was actually a small and cosy affair when it first began. However, other patrons who watched the game were blown away by how well Kuroko played, having never lost a game to any of his friends, and had begun to join in, too, in the hopes of beating him.
Later, the prize of beating Kuroko and claiming a made up title had somehow evolved into a date with the said man, and that announcement had spiked the interest of strangers that catapulted Poker Night into the monster it now was. However, due to the fact that there were at least a hundred people hoping to have a go at beating the blue-haired genius, and there was only one of him, Kagami had set up a system in which the players would play until one remained at the table, and that one would graduate to the next table and so on and forth. It was designed in such a way that only the very best would be able to reach the first table, where Kuroko would play against them.
So, in effect, Aomine mused silently, every single person who was seated at the multiple tables were all after his man. That knowledge was why he was mercilessly bull-dozing his way through the other players. Two rounds later, another man gave up with a frustrated sigh, leaving the table with four players. The tension was palpable, and the crowd only got bigger as the night went on and the other two men retired.
Aomine considered the cards in his hands. "So if I win, I get to go on a date with you?"
Humming, Kuroko smiled pleasantly at him. "And if I win I get all your money."
"Hm," long, tapered fingers tapped out a rhythm on the table as he sized Kuroko up. He had played only to ward off all the other men and women who had tried to make advancements on Kuroko. He wasn't in it for the money at all. He looked long and hard at his cards. With what he had, he could easily win the game, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to. Then again, an obligatory date sounded interesting. Also, truthfully, he didn't mind the money.
The crowd around them seemed to lean forward, and even the people who had come to drink had drifted over and were watching them with anticipation.
"Kuroko-san." The dealer prompted. His words sent a sizzle through the air, and the silence was so thick that a pin dropping would spark chaos. Painfully slow, Kuroko turned his cards around. Making his decision, Aomine checked his cards one last time and laid them out. The silence was making his ears ring and time seemed to stop as Kuroko's blue eyes dropped down to see his cards. Even the dealer seemed to have frozen. Seconds ticked by when suddenly, as one, everyone reacted, the life seeming to slam back into the room.
There were shouts and yells, and people clambering over each other to get a better look at the cards laid out. Aomine smiled at the disbelieving look that had invaded Kuroko's face.
"Dinner at my place tomorrow night?" He said teasingly while the commotion around them escalated as the news spread and everyone fought to come over and see it for themselves. At his words Kuroko looked at him, eyes glassy for a second before his lips curled up in an incredulous smile. Kuroko shook his head laughingly at Aomine while the roar in the bar seemed to reverberate through their bodies.
Aomine's eyes widened and he let out an undignified yelp as arms grabbed at his and he was hoisted into the air too quick for him to react. There was a chant going on, though it seemed like there were at least fifteen versions of it, and he was carried on the shoulders of a few burly men away from Kuroko across to the bar. He was set down in front of a stool, and went along with the nudging fingers in his spine onto the seat.
Himuro grinned at him, and pushed something towards the tan man. He raised an eyebrow but accepted it with a nod of thanks. It seemed as though his victory was being interpreted as everyone's victory. The patrons were cheering and knocking huge jugs of beer together in celebration. The moment he was set down at the bar he was forgotten. He watched in disbelieving awe as some even whipped out their phones and cameras to snap pictures of the cards that Kagami had commanded were to be left alone.
Shaking his head, Aomine turned rueful eyes to the bartender. "Should I have let him win?"
"I really thought you would." Kuroko said, appearing from the crowd behind him.
"I'm sorry?" Aomine said hesitantly. The smaller man shook his head at him with a sigh.
"There goes my reputation."
"Well done, man!" Aomine gasped at the loud smack he received. Kiyoshi was grinning at him widely while the others looked on with expressions ranging from disbelief to awe. "I've never seen someone cheat better than Kuroko!"
"Hey!" The two accused men started in unison. "I didn't cheat!"
"Yeah sure, whatever you say," Kiyoshi replied drolly. "You do realize you're now obligated to come play at least once a month now."
"I'm not a big fan of poker," Aomine began. If he had known that it would turn out like this he would have just let Kuroko win.
"Nonsense!" Izuki interrupted him. "You were amazing out there. You must have practiced a lot."
"Where did you learn to play like that?" A pleasant looking man asked him. He couldn't recall his name. Tsunami, was it?
"I grew up on the streets." Aomine responded with a shrug. "It was an easy way of making money. And relatively legal."
"Man, Kuroko," Kagami squeezed out of the milling crowd and joined them. "Your fans are mad. They're saying they want to play against Aomine to regain your honour."
Aomine dropped his forehead onto the counter, groaning. "I should've just let you win."
"There, there," Kuroko patted him soothingly on the back. "I don't mind. But if you really feel bad you could give me my portion of the money."
"Where is he?!" A loud female voice carried over the din, and a short-haired brunette struggled from the door to their party. "Kuroko-kun! I heard you lost!"
"You don't need to sound so delighted, Aida-san," Kuroko replied flatly.
"Ohoho, but I am!" She returned, looking extremely gleeful. "Maybe now you'll realize you won't keep winning forever."
"That was the first loss ever," Kuroko pointed out. "Besides Aomine-kun no one else has succeeded."
Aida snorted. "If you played fair there'd be more people who could beat you."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"Really," Aida huffed irritably. "These bad traits won't treat you well in the future."
"It's alright. I have Aomine-kun to take my place at the poker table now." Aomine blinked as the focus was suddenly shifted to him. Aida narrowed her eyes at him, looking him up and down.
"You'd better make sure to keep Kuroko-kun on the right track," she declared, leaning into his personal space. He nodded dumbly, silently wondering when he'd agreed to become Kuroko's caretaker.
"Do you want a drink?" Kagami broke the tense atmosphere by laying a hand on Aida's shoulder. Immediately, her whole disposition shifted and she smiled coyly up at the redhead.
"That would be very nice, Kagami-kun." Nodding, he ambled off to procure a drink for her. Meanwhile, Izuki and Hyuuga were making gagging noises behind Aomine.
"Why don't you ask him out already," Kiyoshi, Aomine was discovering, didn't believe in beating around the bush. The only woman there threw him a poisonous glare.
"Mind your own business, Kiyoshi."
"So!" Aomine announced louder than necessary. "I think I'll be going back."
"What? No! Stay!" Izuki exclaimed. "You still haven't taken a picture!"
"A picture?" Aomine felt dread settle at the base of his spine.
"Of course! Your face is going up on the wall of fame."
"I don—"
"Don't resist it," Kuroko whispered. "They'll drag you back kicking and screaming."
Gulping, Aomine nodded meekly.