School has always been a bit boring to Seijurou. Monotonous classes going over things that he already knows, is an expert at even. He gets a perfect score on every test and assignment his teachers give him and he's always quick to participate in class, maybe just to prove to the other students that, yes, he is smarter than them. His father makes sure of it.
He's in his homeroom class, waiting for the teacher to hand his midterms back. He already knows he's passed everything, but he'd just like to have the paper to prove to his tutor that he's keeping ahead of the others.
When the teacher reaches his desk, sure enough, there's a red 100 at the top of each page. Feeling satisfied, he slips the papers into his bag.
"Ah, Akashi-kun did so well," a voice behind him says. It isn't a voice he recognizes, and no one talks to him anyway. Not even for homework help, even though he's the best in the class.
Seijurou turns to put a face to the voice. The kid's face is also unrecognized. Did they always have a blue-haired kid in their class? Though that's not what stands out to Seijurou. The boy has brilliant blue eyes, such pretty eyes. Not that he ever bothered to memorize his classmates' faces, but he's sure he would remember those eyes.
"I didn't do so well," the boy continues. Seijurou glances at the tests the kid is holding out. They're all slightly below average, except for Japanese literature, which is near perfect.
"Did you just transfer here?" Seijurou asks. That would explain his lack of recognition and also the boy's bad scores.
"No, I've been here the whole time." He looks confused and maybe a bit hurt. "Has Akashi-kun really never noticed me? I've sat behind you all year."
"Oh. Sorry." Seijurou doesn't exactly feel sorry, but he tries to be polite anyway, since this kid has the nerve to try to start a conversation with him.
"It's okay. I've been told I don't stand out very much," the boy informs him.
Seijurou thought that was a bit strange, seeing how he had the most piercing eyes he's ever seen. "What is your name?"
"Kuroko Tetsuya."
Ah, now that sounds familiar to Seijurou. He's definitely heard that name during attendance. "Nice to meet you, Kuroko Tetsuya."
"Likewise," the boy, Kuroko Tetsuya, replies. "Although, I've known who you are for a while now."
The bell signalling the end of school rings and Seijurou leaves with a strange feeling deep in his chest. A feeling of want, a fire, a burning desire. It's a feeling he doesn't think belongs to him.
"-an? Sei-chan, why have you stopped reading?"
The voice breaks into his mind and the room snaps into focus. He's in his sitting room, curled up on the leather couch, snuggled into his mother's side.
"Huh...?" He shifts away from his mother, feeling a bit uncomfortable being so close to her at thirteen. A book he doesn't realize he's holding falls to the floor with a soft thump.
A look of worry is on his mother's pale face. "Sei-chan? What's wrong, dear?"
"Ah, sorry." He bends over and grabs the book off the carpet. It's a novel he recognizes, one that's been on his bedroom's shelf for quite a while but he isn't interested in. "I've lost my place." He briefly considers trying to find the page he was on, but he doesn't even remember reading at all, so it would be pointless. "Actually, I'm done reading for now. I should do my homework." He leaves the book and his baffled mother on the couch and heads towards his room.
It was a black out. Just a blackout. Nothing to worry about. He gets them all the time.
Aw, Mother is upset now, Sei-chan.
A cold shiver runs through Seijurou's body at the sound of the voice. It's definitely a familiar voice, one he's heard quite a few times. "Go ahead and poke fun at the name. Just remember that she calls you that too," he shoots back, speaking only in his mind.
The difference is I'm actually her darling Sei-chan. You're just an annoyance.
Seijurou ignores him. When he gets to his room, since he doesn't actually have homework, he falls onto his large bed and buries his face in the soft, black sheets. Please just go away, he thinks.
It has been a while since he last was heard from. Seijurou was starting to think that maybe he was finally gone. Not that that is possible. You can't leave your own body. Although that's unfair, isn't it? It's not his body! It's Seijurou's. Why should he share with someone else? As far as he knows, no one else has a 'roommate'.
The thing that bothers him the most is that his mother seems to favour that guy. Seijurou never knows what the other does while in control, but he does know that he is not a good person. Why on earth does she like him better than Seijurou? It's not fair.
Sighing loudly, he rolls over and stares at the ceiling. He makes a mental note to ask his mother to stop calling him Sei-chan.
The days pass as they always do. Seijurou wakes up, eats breakfast, goes to school, comes home to be tutored on whatever his father feels like making him learn, eats dinner, and gets ready for bed. He does get some free time in there, but he never does much with it. What can he do? He has no friends and video games aren't allowed in his house. He has to either do schoolwork or sit and do nothing. After thirteen years with no time to just be a teenager, Seijurou wishes he had someone to hang out with.
One day in class, Seijurou realizes that his wish for a friend may actually come true.
"How are you today, Akashi-kun?" It's the boy that sits behind him. Kuroko Tetsuya with the beautiful blue eyes.
"I'm well, how are you?" Seijurou replies politely.
"Still failing," Kuroko answers. "But other than that, everything is fine."
Talking about grades again? "You're not talking to me to get me to do your homework, are you?" he accuses. Even though he's trying to joke, he believes that it might actually be true.
Kuroko doesn't even bat an eyelid. "Of course not. I'm talking to you because you seem like an interesting person." A pause, then an afterthought. "Though some homework help would be greatly appreciated."
"I knew it." Seijurou's lips lift a bit at the corners. "How about you come over to my house sometime?" he asks. "I could tutor you there."
"I'd like that, thank you." The blue-haired boy bows as well as he can while sitting at a desk.
Seijurou doesn't notice how Kuroko is already weeding his way into his heart.
Kuroko ends up coming home with him that Friday after school. Kuroko is in awe by the fact that Seijurou has someone drive him to and from school every day, and even starts a friendly conversation with his chauffeur, something that Seijurou himself never bothered to do, even though he's in the car a good thirty or forty minutes a day with the man.
Kuroko is in even more awe once he sees the Akashi family house. "Is this really still Japan?" he asks, as they pass through the security gate. "I knew you were well off, but I never guessed you were this rich. I kind of hate you at the moment."
Seijurou leads him into the house. He's never had a guest of his own before, so he's not completely sure what to do. Should he offer him food and drink? But his maid will do that. Instead he stands awkwardly with Kuroko in the entrance hall, waiting for her to show up.
After a few seconds of silence, the woman makes herself seen. "Seijurou-sama, welcome home!" she greets.
"I'm home," he replies. "I have a guest. We're going to do homework."
She looks confused for a moment, then exclaims, "Ah! I didn't see you there."
"Pardon the intrusion." Kuroko bows in Seijurou's peripheral vision.
"Well, Seijurou-sama, you have a violin lesson scheduled in ten minutes," the maid tells him.
"Postpone it, then," he commands. Obviously he's not going to take part in it. He doesn't blame her for not knowing to cancel though, because he never has before. "We'll be in my room."
They part ways and he escorts Kuroko to the top floor and into his bedroom. He notices that Kuroko is holding his shoes. He probably took them off at the entrance, Seijurou realizes. That's one of the Japanese customs that never really applied to him due to his western-styled house. He slips out of his shoes and sets them in the closet, motioning for Kuroko to do the same.
"Make yourself at home," Seijurou says to the other boy, setting his bag down by his desk. "No need to be so awkward." His room is large and contains only a few things. His bed, a bookshelf, and a desk. The only thing in his closet is clothing.
"Akashi-kun is the awkward one," Kuroko protests, but he seems to relax a bit and settles himself into one of the chairs by the desk. "Or should I call you Seijurou-sama?"
Seijurou smiles at the joke, even though he's being made fun of. "You can call me whatever you want." He mulls over that for a couple seconds. "Except Sei-chan."
"I'll keep that in mind," he says. "I guess we should get started on what I originally came over for."
"Of course." Switching gears, Seijurou digs through his bag for the homework they were assigned that day, and he begins his mission to teach Kuroko what he needs to pass.
He has never tutored anyone before and he thought that it might be hard or frustrating, but Kuroko is rather smart and picks up things quickly. Seijurou briefly wonders how he got so far behind, and makes a mental note to ask him about it later. During their study session, Seijurou's maid brings them snacks to keep them satiated until dinner. And to gush about how cute Kuroko is. That's slightly embarrassing, but then again Seijurou fully agrees. His potential friend is cute.
He also finds out that Kuroko and him have quite a lot in common. They have a lot of similar views on things and have read many of the same books. They finish their homework and cover a few past assignments and talk turns to a certain book Seijurou owns that Kuroko has been wanting to read.
"I can let you borrow it," Seijurou offers. "It's very good."
"Really?" Kuroko asks.
Seijurou hums as a confirmation, standing up and heading to his bookshelf to find it. "I'll warn you though, you need to be prepared for the ending." He finds it quickly and pulls it off the shelf.
"I've heard it's sad." Kuroko makes his way toward where Seijurou and the bookshelf are and takes the book. He studies the cover and flips through the pages for a handful of seconds. "Did you cry?" he questions.
Seijurou's slightly taken aback by the inquiry. "I...ah..." Truthfully, he did cry, but he doesn't exactly want to admit that.
Kuroko closes the book and smiles lightly at him. "That's okay. I teared up over a video game earlier."
"You play video games?" Seijurou is a little shocked and jealous. His father doesn't like them so he's never allowed them.
"Well, it's like an interactive visual novel," he clears up. "I have a few of them. They're fun and you still get the joy of reading."
That sounds interesting. Maybe if he gets his maid or tutor or mother to tell his father about games like that, he'll allow them, though probably not. Kuroko must see something in his expression, because he go back over to his backpack and digs something out. It's a handheld game system.
"I'll lend it to you," he informs Seijurou, tossing it onto the bed. "For the book."
"Are you sure?" Lending someone a book is very different than lending them an electronic.
Kuroko nods. "I finished it at lunch today and would really like someone to discuss the ending with."
"Thank you..." Seijurou sits down on his bed and picks up the foreign object. "I'm not sure how to use this," he admits.
The blue-haired boy smiles. "I'll show you." He sits next to Seijurou and shows him how to turn it on and a few of the other basic things. He gets the game started up and lets him play the opening while he starts on the novel Seijurou is letting him borrow.
Seijurou never knew that friends (he can call them that, right?) could just sit without talking and still be perfectly comfortable. But there they sit, on his bed even, each doing their own thing, and yet Seijurou doesn't feel the need to start a conversation. He feels like he could happily carry on like this for hours, but Kuroko's phone making an annoying notification sound puts an end to his peaceful thoughts.
"What is it?" he asks the other.
"Just a text from my mother," Kuroko replies. "She's just making sure I'm fine."
"Oh." To Seijurou that's a little strange. It's not even late. But he knows that other families are different than his, so he doesn't comment.
Kuroko falls back onto the pillows. "You know, I'm probably the envy of a lot of girls at school right now," he casually states.
"Really? How's that?" He saves his spot in the game and sets it down, copying Kuroko's position.
"I'm on Akashi Seijurou's bed." Kuroko rolls a bit to his left so he's facing Seijurou, blue eyes sweeping over his face. "With him next to me. You're really popular, you know."
Seijurou's breath catches in his throat at the implications of that. "What are you saying?" He wants to touch the other boy, just run his fingers all over his body and do God knows what. Honestly, he's a bit disgusted by his thoughts. What's he doing thinking something like that about a kid he's known for two weeks? But Kuroko's looking at him so innocently, and those lips, he notices, are a very lovely shade of pink, and he wonder's if they taste like-
I want to consume him.
Seijurou bolts up and away from Kuroko. "What's the matter?" he hears behind him. He doesn't answer; he feels like he's breathing too hard. He had momentarily forgotten about Emperor Akashi. How stupid of him.
Kuroko sits up next to him with a worried expression. "Are you okay? I apologise if that was strange."
Seijurou slows his breathing. "I'm fine. I just suddenly thought that I should introduce you to my mother." He forces a smile.
Kuroko gives him a weird look, but says, "I'd be glad to meet her."
They find his mother in the sitting room, humming a song and crocheting something that resembles a blanket. She spots him before he says anything and calls out, "Sei-chan! What colour should I add next?"
"Black," he decides, because it matches with everything. "I want to introduce you to someone."
"Oh?" She glances around the room, her eyes going right through Kuroko. Her gleeful expression turns wary. "Sei-chan, we've talked about this. You know not to-"
"Mother," he interrupts, speaking loudly to cover her words. "This is my classmate, Kuroko Tetsuya." He gestures to the boy next to him.
"Oh!" She finally registers that there is another person in the room. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were there!" She stands to greet him properly. "Nice to meet you."
Kuroko replies in the same manner. "Akashi-kun is very smart. He's helping me with school."
"Ahhh, I always knew my Sei-chan would find a friend if he just tried," she exclaims. "Are you staying for dinner?"
"Thank you, but I actually have plans with my parent," he says. "I should probably get going."
"Oh, too bad. Let's walk him to the door, Sei-chan." She grabs Seijurou's hand and motions for Kuroko to follow. Seijurou tries to discreetly tug his hand out of his mother's grip, but fails, so he's either stuck with the embarrassment or he can make a scene of making her let go. He chooses the former.
"Thank you for having me over," Kuroko says once they 're safely outside, leaving Seijurou's mother at the door. "I had a good time."
"I did as well," Seijurou confirms. He smiles down at Kuroko, who returns the expression.
The blue-haired boy reaches into the side pocket of his bag. Seijurou's heart pounds for a moment as his other hand goes to grab his own, but only until he realizes that the object he pulled out from his back is a pen and he's writing something on Seijurou's palm.
"I forgot to give that to you earlier," he explains when he's done. Seijurou looks at it. It's a phone number. "Now you can talk to me whenever you want." Seijurou assures that he will make contact and they part ways.
I want to consume him...
Thank you for reading!