Kagami woke with a start, chased out of sleep by strange, unsettling dreams. They were on a basketball court, playing as they always did, when a sinkhole suddenly opened beneath their feet and sucked Kuroko down while Kagami scrambled to catch him, his hand grasping only air. Or they were walking home from school, pausing on the bridge to watch the water, and blue-gray fog rose all around them and swallowed Kuroko from his sight. Or they were jogging on a beach, and for once Kagami was behind Kuroko instead of the other way around, and Kagami just couldn't keep up with him, his arms and legs dragging as if he was running through thick, heavy syrup, and all he could was watch as Kuroko disappeared into the distance.

Awake, Kagami lay still and breathed, slow and steady. He stared up at the ceiling above his head, flimsy and shifting in the multicolored city lights glowing in the window. He was still in the blanket fort. After that long, draining conversation, after Aomine awkwardly took his leave with a sleepy Nigou in his arms, neither Kagami nor Kuroko had felt like disassembling enough bedding to take back to their own beds. So they hadn't.

As the cobwebs cleared away from his head, Kagami became aware of Kuroko's breathing, long and soft and with just the edge of a wheeze, and he felt the gentle weight on his stomach. His raised his head enough to spot Kuroko curled up on his side, his body perpendicular to Kagami's and his head resting on Kagami's blanket-covered abdomen. He was wrapped in so many covers that he looked like nothing more than a strange, oblong dumpling with light blue filling poking out one end.

But he was there. He was fine. He hadn't vanished.

Kagami let his head thump back down on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. It didn't take a mystic to interpret his dreams. After getting a glimpse of just how many issues Kuroko had, just how many fears and hurts and misconceptions twined around his heart like the black strands of a spiderweb, Kagami was worried. Himuro had warned him, but that was nothing next to actually getting a look at the problem himself.

This was the kind of thing that could destroy Kuroko. It could tear him up and ruin him. For life. Kagami would do anything he could to stop that from happening, but he didn't know how. He hadn't even been able to convince Kuroko that this whole mess wasn't his fault, though somehow Aomine had been able to come up with the right words on that one.

Kagami knew he wasn't good with words. He could feed Kuroko and treat his wounds and give him hugs and build a blanket fort for him, but he didn't know what to say. Not in Japanese, and not in English.

A notification noise from a cell phone broke Kagami out of the anxious spiral of his thoughts. He looked around, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Oh, he'd tucked his phone under that chair with his laptop. He'd forgotten. Kagami reached out one long arm, snagged the phone, then brought it back to his face to see what the message was.

It was a text from his big brother.

From: Himuro
How are you doing? Haven't talked in a while.

Kagami closed his eyes. Since their reconciliation after the Winter Cup, he and Himuro tended to text each other at least once a week. It had only been two days, this time. But what a full two days they had been. No wonder Himuro was anxious to hear from him. Why was he up this late?

Maybe he couldn't sleep, either.

To: Himuro
I'm okay. You were right though.

From: Himuro
About what?

To: Himuro
About how hard this is going to be.

The phone was quiet for a little bit.

From: Himuro
Did you get him to talk to you about what happened?

To: Himuro
Yeah. It's pretty bad, Aniki. He's been through some horrible stuff.
And he's convinced that he's a failure. That he should have been able to fix it.
By himself. From the time he was eight.
I don't know what to say to him.

From: Himuro
Besides that he's wrong about that, you mean?

To: Himuro
Yeah. I don't know how to convince him.

From: Himuro
If we were in the States I would tell you to think about convincing him to talk to somebody.
Somebody professional, I mean. But I don't think Japan has a lot of resources for mental health.

To: Himuro
Yes, I've heard that.

From: Himuro
Japan doesn't have a good support system for kids like this. At all.
Did you know orphanages are still a thing here? They really aren't a thing anymore in the US.
Foster care is a lot more common. Group homes for troubled kids, but that's different.
Japan isn't like that. I've been doing research.

A chill ran over Kagami's shoulders at the thought. What did that mean for Kuroko? He didn't want Kuroko to end up in an orphanage. He wanted Kuroko here, with him, for as long as Kuroko needed someone.

From: Himuro
But he talked to you. That's good.

To: Himuro
I didn't record it. I didn't want to break the flow when he suddenly said he was ready.
And I still haven't convinced him to go the police. He thinks he owes his dad something.
He kept saying, "I can't. I can't do that to him."

From: Himuro
Well...that might be a good thing.

Kagami stared at that one for a while.

To: Himuro
What?

From: Himuro
I told you, I've been doing research.
If the authorities get involved, Kuroko is pretty much guaranteed to end up in an orphanage,
unless he has a relative who can take custody of him.

To: Himuro
I don't think so. It sounds like his extended family cut ties.

From: Himuro
Japan doesn't have a process for emancipating minors.
Abuse is prosecuted very harshly, as it should be.
But like I said, the support for the kids is barely there. He'll end up trapped in the system.

Kagami felt dizzy. The imagery from his dream resurfaced, that dense, cold fog wrapping around him, Kuroko fading out of sight, invisible. Lost.

To: Himuro
Aniki, I can't let that happen.

From: Himuro
I know. But I think there might be another way. Just...not exactly inside the law.

To: Himuro
...Do I even want to know what you're talking about?

From: Himuro
Maybe not. Not yet, anyway. Just keep doing what you're doing.
Keep being kind and compassionate, the way I know you are.
Keep getting him to talk about what he's been through. Record it if you can, next time.

To: Himuro
Even though we're not going to go to the authorities anymore?

From: Himuro
Yeah. It's still important. I'll tell you why later.
Do you trust me?

Kagami didn't even have to think about this one.

To: Himuro
Of course.

From: Himuro
I thought so.
Take care of yourself, Taiga. Everything will be all right.

Kagami set the phone down on his chest and stared up at the ceiling. He wanted to believe it. Even over the impersonal distance of text messages on cell phones, Himuro's words had a calming effect.

He wished Himuro was here. Akita was really far away. The text messages and phone calls were nice, but it would be even better to talk face to face.

It would be nice if his dad was here, too... But that was old ache, long smoothed over by time, though still tender at the edges. Kagami had never really gotten used to living alone. So he'd never minded hosting Alex, or even the whole team.

Maybe he was being selfish. Maybe he wanted Kuroko to stay with him for his own sake, not Kuroko's. Maybe Kuroko would be better off in a place where people were used to dealing with kids like him who had been through terrible experiences. Himuro had said that the support system wasn't very good, but surely the adults at those kinds of places still had a better idea of what to do than Kagami did. Since Kagami had no idea at all.

Even a little idea would be better than none. Right?

"Kagami-kun..." Kuroko's voice was sleepy and slurred.

Kagami looked down and found that Kuroko had rolled over, still with his head on Kagami's stomach, but now looking in his direction. His eyes were heavy-lidded, his cheeks flushed, and his bedhead was absolutely amazing even lying down. Kagami folded an arm behind his head to prop himself up and tried to give him a smile.

"Sorry, did I wake you? I should have turned off the text sound."

Kuroko blinked, long and slow, and ignored this completely. "You seem troubled, Kagami-kun. Your thoughts were very loud."

"Sorry." Kagami frowned. Kuroko was shivering, hunching into himself under all his covers, yet his body heat where he pressed against Kagami's side was abnormally warm. "Is your fever worse? Maybe you should take more medicine."

Kuroko shook his head, once, just rocking it from side to side. "I don't want more medicine. I want you to tell me what's troubling you."

Kagami hesitated. Kuroko certainly deserved to know, since it was all about him. But he didn't want to add more burdens to the ones already weighing down those slender shoulders, especially when Kuroko wasn't feeling well.

Kuroko frowned at him, something of his old fierceness lighting in his eyes. "I told you everything," he mumbled, not a little petulantly. "You should tell me something, too."

Kagami sighed. The guy had a point. "Fine, then... You might have guessed that I was texting with my brother..."

"Himuro-san, yes. Your eyes are always bright when you communicate with him."

Kagami paused, then shook his head and went on. "He's been helping me out, giving me advice."

Kuroko slumped down a little more heavily. His eyes were almost shut now. "I remember. You told him I was just your classmate."

"Yeah, but he figured out it was you." Kagami tensed, expecting a look of betrayal, but Kuroko didn't even twitch.

"Himuro-san is perceptive. And he cares about his little brother."

"He's worried about you, too. He says..." Kagami trailed off. This was the part he didn't really want to talk about. Kuroko didn't even seem to understand that he had wounds that went beyond the physical. How was Kagami suppose to explain to him that he was afraid he wouldn't be able to cure them?

Kuroko just lay there, watching him patiently.

Maybe he should try this a different way. "Kuroko...do you want to stay here? With me?"

"Yes." The response was instant and absolute.

"Even though I'm just another high school boy? Shouldn't you have someone older and more experienced to take care of you? I know...you lost your parents, and maybe you don't want new ones... But you're still just sixteen years old. You deserve to have someone who knows what they're doing looking out for you."

Kuroko blinked. His eyes were wide now in the city lights trailing in from the window, and very blue. "Kagami-kun knows what he's doing."

"That's where you're wrong, Kuroko. I really, really don't."

Kuroko's jaw set in stubborness. "I'm not a fish."

It was Kagami's turn to blink. "...What."

"I'm not a fish. And I'm not a little girl who was transformed from a fish. I don't need special care."

But you do, Kagami thought. You really do.

"I can see you thinking." Kuroko poked one hand out out from his blankets so he could point his finger at Kagami's face. "Stop that."

Kagami had to smile at that one. He'd never seen Kuroko act like this before. "Your fever is pretty bad, huh?"

Kuroko scowled at him. "Don't dismiss me because I'm acting oddly."

"I'm not dismissing you." Kagami raised his hands in surrender. "What you want is very important to me."

"Okay. Good." Kuroko snuggled his head down into Kagami's side and closed his eyes again. "Then the answer is easy. I want Kagami-kun."

"But you might be better off if..."

"No." Kuroko opened one eye to glare at him. "I would not be better off anywhere else. Stop thinking that. You are the best person I know, but you are an idiot."

Kagami huffed out a breathless chuckle and let his hands fall down at his sides. "Fine. We'll figure it out."

"Good. We're agreed." Kuroko's mouth opened wide in a yawn, and then he curled up even tighter, eyes squeezing shut as if to signal that the conversation was over. "Please take care of me, Kagami-kun."

Kagami froze where he was for a moment, his breath halted in his throat. It was a common phrase here, often just a meaningless greeting... But this didn't sound meaningless. It sounded forthright, and steady, and very, very confident.

"Yeah," he said, through a throat suddenly too tight to allow proper speech.

Kuroko didn't answer. He was already asleep.

Not long afterward, Kagami was too.