Chapter Text
Tsukishima Kei was not having a good day.
Scratch that.
He’s having the worst day in his whole fucking life.
He had been sleeping soundly before one of the maids of the house knocked on his door, entering after he called for her to come in, voice still thick from sleep.
“Master Kei, Master Akashi requests your presence immediately.” She stayed rooted in the doorway as the teen became more alert, grabbing his glasses from the nightstand near his head. He stood, silk sheets fluttering off of him and onto the mattress.
“Thank you. You may return to your duties.” She bowed silently before leaving.
Tsukishima slipped his feet into his white slippers, quickly glanced over at the clock on his nightstand and left his room, making sure to close the door behind him. As he wondered through the halls he thought about what his uncle had to tell him at 2 o’clock in the morning. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. The last time he actually saw the man was almost 3 years ago. He still remembers the time when Shuzo had gotten into a fight at their school and the principle called his father to come pick him up. When he and Seijuro came home from school that day, they found the older boy in his room curled into himself with tear marks running down his face and unseeing eyes. His uncle came in then, saying that this is what happens when one of them misbehaves and left the room. After that, Shuzo didn’t leave his room for a whole week. The maids would leave food sitting outside his door, only to come back to see it still sitting there, untouched and cold.
Every day after school, they both would head right up the stairs and go into his room. It was always dark, the curtains drawn with the light off and he was always in the same position that he was in from the very beginning, hugging his legs close to his body. Seijuro would always go over first, throwing his backpack to the floor and going in front of his brother. He would gently pry the elder’s hands away from holding his legs and pull them down, making more room on the small bed. The redhead wiggled his way onto the bed, wrapping his arms around Shuzo and drawing him tight to his smaller body.
Kei picked up the discarded bag and brought it over to the corner of the room, setting both his and his cousin’s down. He walked over after, seeing Seijuro snuggling close to the rainbow male’s chest and gripping him like a life line. Being the tallest of them all, he went around the other side of Nijimura and climbed on himself. He pressed up close to his back and threw his arm over the two, dragging them both closer. They would lie like that for hours on end, only ever getting up to use the bathroom or halfheartedly do their homework. Shuzo never did tell them what happened. After the week ended, he acted like nothing ever happened. He never told the younger two, no matter how much Kei prompted. To this day he still doesn’t fully know what happened, but Shuzo has held a grudge ever since, always trying to keep his uncle away from them. Keyword being trying. I didn’t always work. Ahh, what a fond memory.
His feet stopped in front of the door at end of the hall, finally making it to the chamber. Kei knocked twice and waited for the “enter”. It came after him standing around for five minutes, just when he was going to go look for the maid that sent him.
Pushing open the door, he shuffled into the spacious room and allowed the door to fall close behind him. In the chair behind the wooden desk sat his uncle. He wasn’t a huge of a man, only being a few centimeters taller than Kei’s 188. His red hair was neatly brushed and slicked back, shining from the tableside lamp. Red eyes, so much like Seijuro’s, stared him down with an ice cold glare. Kei kept his own eyes on the ground, waiting for permission to do otherwise. He had learned his lesson long ago to never look at the master of the house without some sort of confirmation.
“How wonderful it is to see you Kei.” The older Akashi’s voice was just as cold as his eyes. “It’s been a few years, has it?”
Kei stared steadily at the carpet, “As it is you too Uncle.” He kept his voice soft and light. It was silent for a few moments, the blond teen keeping his body language submissive as the elder’s gaze stays on him.
“You are to go to Japan.” Golden eyes widened as they snapped to the face of the other male. A frown tugs on the master’s mouth. “Have I said that you may rise your gaze?”
He looks down again immediately. “No, Uncle.” The smaller bows his head, “I apologize for being disrespectful.”
“As you should. I’m the one who brought you in after all.” Kei could practically hear the smirk on his face. “You’d never disappoint me, right Kei?”
“Never.”
“You’d follow?”
“Every word.”
Akashi gave a dark chuckle, “This is why you and Seijuro are my favorite. My perfect little soldiers that never fall out of line.” He gives a sigh. “Shuzo would have been too if it wasn’t for that woman. Although as long as I have you two I have him also.” He mutters the last sentence, loud enough for Kei to hear, but he lets it go in one ear and out the other. It wasn’t his place to question his uncle. “Seijuro and Shuzo are already there. You will be leaving at once.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“There will be no need to pack as I have already made arrangements for your personal belongings to be transferred. Understood?” Kei nodded. “I will keep in touch. Dismissed.” The teen bows before turning to open the door. “Kei?” He stops, but doesn’t turn around. “You may not consume any nutrients for the next two days. Be sure not to disrespect again, yes?”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“So I got on the plane and was here before school ended. Uncle requested that I attend whatever classes I was in time for.” Tsukishima does, of course, leave out some things when telling Seijuro about how he got there (being his punishment and the small side comments made during the talk).
Seijuro gave him a small toothless smile. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Kei gave a nod, pulling on the white shirt that he had picked up in the entrance.
“How’d you know which door to enter?” He glanced next to him, seeing Seijuro taking off his glasses and unbuttoning his jacket.
“Some freak with an alien pin told me to go into this one.” The blond shrugged, “I didn’t really think much of it.” The redhead gave a nod of his own before continuing to get undressed. They finished changing in silence after that, the only sound in the room was from the girls that were on the other side of the lockers.
“Well, let’s-”
The door to the changing room slammed open. “What the hell! Why the fuck am I in a room full of girls?!” Akashi sighed. He knew that voice all too well.
“Shuzo, over here.”
The dark haired teen made a beeline to his brother, trying not to stare at the half naked females as he passed. “Sei!” He threw his arms around the other teen’s shoulders, hiding his face in his hair. “Why are we in a changing room with beautiful girls?”
“I don’t know, Shu.” Seijuro answered, looking at Kei with an unimpressed expression. His cousin just smirked at him, clearly enjoying his discomfort with the situation. Jackass. Two can play at this game. “Hey, metal mouth.”
“What, four eyes?” He nuzzled further into the younger’s red locks.
“Look who’s here.”
Nijimura glanced up from the red locks of hair, his gaze quickly zeroing in on Kei. He immediately let go of Akashi and strolled over closer to the blond who was standing near the door leading out into the gymnasium. “Well, if it isn’t the Moon Princess in the flesh. How has her majesty been?” He hooked an arm around the taller teen’s shoulders, a smug smile on his face. Tsukishima’s smirk fell very quickly, a scowl replacing it along with a glare. He picked up Nijimura’s hand by his wrist with two fingers, peeling it off of him in disgust.
“My god,” the rainbow male rolled his eyes, “you don’t have to act like my hand is the most disgusting thing in the world.”
The grimace didn’t leave the others face. “I don’t know where your hand has been.” Kei pushed up his glasses, moving closer to the door.
“Tsukki!” He actually sounded genuinely shocked that Kei would say that. Akashi sighed, his cousin wasn’t really one for physical touching so his reaction is not that surprising. “I’ll have you know that my hand is so clean you can lick it!”
Tsukishima actually seemed to turn slightly green at that one as Nijimura shoved his right hand in his face. “That’s disgusting.” He ducked under the arm, backing up into the door leading out. The blond quickly grasped the handle and pulled it open, Nijimura chasing after him. This, of course, ended with the oldest teen barreling into Kei, causing them both to fly outside with the door slamming shut behind them. The redhead just blinked a few times, looking where his two companions had disappeared.
“Goddamnit Shu.” Seijuro muttered under his breath, offering a small, reassuring smile to the girls that were now staring at him. He went to open the door himself before both of his family members tumbled right back into the room. Tsukishima sported a scowl, a small blush could be seen on his pale cheeks. Nijimura looked extremely pissed, highly contrasting his earlier playfulness.
“Wha-”
“Nothing.”
Akashi’s mouth snapped shut at his brother’s clipped tone.
“Nice of you ladies to join us.” Akashi could already tell he wasn’t going to like this gym teacher. Not only was the comment demoralizing, it didn’t help that the three of them came out with the group of girls that had been watching them since they had entered the locker room. He peered through his glasses when he heard a few snickers. Right off the bat, it was clear that there is some sort of social segregation happening. Each student had a specific color shirt on. They were all pretty monotone though. Most of them donned a dark grey shirt, both male and female students. Black shirts were worn by the more aggressive looking students, almost all of them were male excluding a few smirking females. Lastly, the white shirts. Every single person in the room that wore a white shirt was a girl except for Seijuro, Shuzo, and Kei.
Maybe the teacher didn’t see them? Akashi huffed. No, that wasn’t it. He himself may blend in with the rest of the white shirts (although only slightly. Even though he’s short for a boy, he’s taller than the average girl), but Nijimura and especially Tsukishima were fucking trees. There’s no way that the instructor didn’t see them. Plus, it’s very clear that they are lacking majorly in the chest section to even be considered females.
“Alright. Now that everyone is here, let’s begin with a warm up.” The gym instructor glanced down at his clipboard. “Alphas two mile run.” Fuck is an alpha? “Betas one and a half mile run.” The fuck’s a beta? “Omegas one mile run.” What the hell is an omega? “Start.” Everyone around the three boy’s started their run.
“Do you..?”
“No.”
“Should we?”
“Yes.”
The three of them started a light jog, attempting to keep away from the others in the class. There were a few, however, that were making it quite difficult. As soon as they were about to finish their first lap, Akashi heard the pounding of footsteps that were coming up behind them fast. They had been in a triangle-like formation, the redhead on the outside next to Kei with Nijimura right behind them. The sound continued to get louder, closer to Kei’s side than Seijuro’s.
The teen grabbed onto his cousin’s arm, pulling him closer as two large bodies ran past them. Tsukishima stumbled a bit, causing Nijimura to step on the back of his shoe. Akashi heard one of them say something to the extent of, “Bro, I’m gonna win!” before stumbling slightly himself.
“Shit.” They all stopped. The blond leaned down, pulling on the back of his sneaker to get his heel back in. A group of black shirts passed by, seeming to slowdown when they actually reached the trio. A few gave some whistles and catcalls when the teen initially bent over. Nijimura, of course, didn’t take too kindly to this. He discreetly stuck his foot out in front of one of the males in the back of the group. The other teen tripped, crashing into the one ahead of him, causing a domino effect.
The rainbow male bared his teeth in a snarl. “Leave him the fuck alone.”
The two males that were seemingly leading the group were the only ones not to fall. They rounded the three, Tsukishima now standing at his full height. The two looked like twins. Both had brown hair cut short that was swiped to the right side, similar colored triangular ears rested on top. Their light grey eyes roamed each of their bodies. Walking around in perfect sync, it was if they were predators circling their prey, just waiting for the opportunity to pounce. They also had large, bushy tails that followed their movements. They reminded Akashi of a fox tail.
“No need to be jealous.” The one closest to Nijimura said.
His look-a-like continued. “There’s always room in the pack for more than one.”
“It’s better if there’s more.”
“A lot better.” Akashi felt a hand ghost over the back of his neck. A shiver of disgust ran its way down his spine.
Shuzo snapped, “Don’t touch him!”
They both laughed. “Feisty.”
“And protective.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s not often that we see males in white.”
“Unbound ones at least.”
“They’re stronger.”
“But, harder to control.” One of the brunettes grabbed onto the upperpart of Nijimura’s right arm. The ever so slightly taller teen glared at the offending hand. The fox tightened the appendage to a bruising hold.
“It’s fun though.”
“Forcing them into submission.”
“Breaking them in.”
“Breaking what in?” A voice came from behind the small group. Akashi turned around, searching for whoever it was and hoping it wasn’t part of whatever the twins were in. (Those two were really starting to freak him out. Who in their right mind talks about breaking people?) He couldn’t find to source, not at first at least. “What are you breaking in, Shota? Sota?”
Both of the fox twins growled, their now standing group staying back behind them. To the redhead, it looked as if they were frightened. “Nothing Kuroko.” They spat at the same time, grumbling as they walked away.
Akashi looked behind himself once again and this time actually seeing a person who was, surprisingly, shorter than him. The shorter teen had sky blue hair, almost styled the same way as his own, except his bangs were longer. Baby blues stared at him unblinking. It felt as if they were looking straight into his soul, like he was baring all his secrets to the other. He wore a black shirt, just like the ones that were harassing them moments ago. His intent seemed different, however, as all he did was stand there and not coming close enough to break his personal space.
“Are you alright?” His voice held no straight out emotion, but Akashi could (somehow) tell that he was being sincere.
Nijimura moved closer to the redhead, most likely not wanting a repeat of what just happened. “We’re fine.” He growled out, rubbing his sore arm.
“I apologize for their actions,” the black shirt bowed low at the waist, “I will personally make sure they won’t both you in the future.” He ended the sentence with a slight undertone of a growl.
Akashi had to suppress the whimper that wanted so badly to escape. Something about the other teen’s tone made him want to please him, doing anything for him. The boy stood back up, his gaze piercing the redhead once again. He held out his hand towards the slightly taller teen, “Kuroko Tetsuya.”
Seijuro hesitantly took it, “Akashi Seijuro.”
“It’s very nice to meet you.” Kuroko’s face adapted a small smile. He stepped back, looking around at the remaining students that were still running. “You’re running a mile, by the way.” The boy turned to leave, only pausing briefly to say, “If you have any problems come straight to me.”
“Yeah, we’ll be sure to do that.” The rainbow male laid a hand on Akashi’s shoulder. “We really should be finishing this run now, right?” The smile on his face clearly forced.
“Right.” With that, the blue haired student went on his way.
“What was that all about?” His dazed tone floated over his two family members. Neither of them replied. Nijimura started jogging again, Akashi and Tsukishima right behind.
They were the last group to finish their run, thanks to the little run in they had with the group of black shirts. The teacher didn’t seem to care all that much, he instead talked to some of the students that had finished first. When he noticed they were done, however, he called everyone closer.
“Kickball today.” Some cheered while others groaned. “Team captains are Aomine and Kuroo.” Two tall teens made their way up to the front, one rivaled Tsukishima in height and the other exceeding it by just a bit. They both wore black tees and had almost identical smirks on their face. The taller of the two had dark skin coupled with dark blue hair. Akashi almost felt compelled to step back and away from the boy that was exerting an aura of dominance. The other slightly shorter one had messy black hair that looked like bedhead that the teen didn’t even attempt to tame. His eyes were narrowed and cat-like, almost as if daring someone to challenge him. “Each team must consist of all orientations, starting with the Alphas.” All the black shirts lined up in front of the two, waiting for their name to be called. “Aomine, first pick.”
The boy with the navy blue hair grinned, “Tetsu.” Akashi didn’t see anyone move to walk forward as he scanned over the whole line. When he looked back at Aomine, however, he saw the teen from earlier, Kuroko, was now standing next to the team captain. Was he a fucking ghost or something?
“Bokuto, come here bro!” A black shirt with white and black spiked up hair ran immediately to bedhead while cheering rather loudly. The redhead heard Tsukishima scoff behind him.
This continued on until it was the grey shirts turn and eventually the white shirts. Akashi scanned over the two large teams, recognizing a few of the faces. Furihata was in Aomine’s group, donning a grey shirt and looking at him with guilt. Probably because he ran off earlier without informing him, but whatever. He also saw the green hair student from one of his morning classes, the one that tried to give him his notebook. In his left hand (that was also strangely bandaged up) sat a small rubber duck. Why would you need a rubber duck for gym class, Akashi had no idea, but to each his own I guess. Kise was also there, smiling away at anyone and everything. The only one on bedhead’s side that he heard of was a brunette with an alien pin over his left breast. It was the one Tsukki was talking about earlier. The boy was, in all terms of the word, perfect. His hair was styled into gentle waves that looked like it took hours to accomplish. He was tall and almost seemed to command others full attention. The young teen could practically feel the black shirt’s cockiness from here. What’s with everyone commanding respect and looking down on others?
It was their turn to line up now as they saw all the girls move up and in front. Akashi, Nijimura, and Tsukishima stayed at the end of the line, but even then all eyes were on them. It was Aomine’s turn to pick again.
“The red haired kitten.” The trio just stood there, waiting for their names to be called. When no one stepped forward after a few seconds, the dark skinned teen called out again. “Seijuro.” Said boy couldn’t hold back the flinch when he heard his name called with an undertone of aggression and impatience. He listened to Nijimura growl behind him as he walked over to his new team captain. He looked happy, smug even as the redhead joined his group.
Kuroo went next. “Blondie with the glasses.” Even from been multiple feet away from him, Akashi could still hear his brother’s growling getting increasingly louder. Nijimura has always been very protective of them and now they were being split up, even if it is only temporarily. Tsukishima went over to the group, a bored look on his face. The redhead could tell he was stressed, however, as his cousin threaded his fingers together in front of him when he reached his destination.
“Rainbow boy.” He stomped over to Seijuro, not even trying to hide his displeasure for the situation. Akashi was confused, though. Nijimura had a short temper, but he’s never been this easy to piss off. He even snapped back at Aomine.
“Don’t call me that, shitlord.”
The other just rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say, Rainbow.” Needless to say, the younger brother had to hold him back.
The rest of the picking went by fast as there weren’t that many white shirts to begin with. Akashi couldn’t help but feel bad for the blond on the other team. From what he could see, alien boy was trying to talk to him without much success. In fact, he was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. The redhead leaned into the boy with braces, waiting to get his attention. Once he got it, he motioned to Tsukki.
“Oi, Mond Prinzessin!” Tsukishima’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing in on the both of them, “Ist das Stück Scheiße stört Sie?”
The blond hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, “Nein. Er ist nur ein Trottel.”
“Drücken Sie sich nicht, Tsukishima.” Seijuro decided to add.
“Right.” He grumbled back.
“Alright,” the teacher called out, “Let the game start!”
Akashi turned to make his was to the bleachers only to come face to face with their captain, or rather face to chest as the redhead was shorter.
“Um, do you need something?”
“As a matter of fact, I do Seijuro.” Aomine’s grin turned feral, but said no more.
The freshman sighed, “Please don’t call me that. We’re not that close.”
“Don’t be like that,” the dark haired male draped an arm over the smaller shoulders, pulling him in closer. “I just want to be your friend.” He practically purred this into Akashi’s ear. A violate shutter ran through him, mostly in fear. There was something dark in his words and they swam around him, as if trying to drag him into something he has no knowledge about. Something he didn’t want to be a part of.
He pulled away and just stared, wide eyed.
“Kitten, what’s wrong?” He sounded genuinely mildly concerned.
“Don’t call me that!” That nickname. He loathed it. It was one thing to read it on the piece of paper in class (he just really skimmed over it), but to actually hear someone say it out loud? He felt like someone was killing him on the inside.
Nijimura, who had been talking to the teacher about getting all three boys on the same team, ran right over to him after hearing the shout. Kei had beaten him there first and already pulled their youngest family member away from the brute that had made his brother yell. Actually yell. That boy never raised his voice for anything.
“What the hell did you do to him!?” He was fuming. Shuzo made his way closer to Aomine, grabbing his collar and yanking it down so they were face to face. “You son of a bitch!” He pointed back at the redhead in the blonde’s arms, “He’s fucking shaking! What did you do?!”
“Hey!” The P.E. teacher ran over, “Nijimura, let him go!” The rainbow male ripped his hands away, glare in full effect. “Do you need to go to the principal’s office?”
The second year spat, “No, sir.”
“Good.” He looked back at his clipboard. “Nijimura Shuzo and Akashi Seijuro, move to Kuroo’s team. “Oshin Saori and Yoshinobu Maeko, move to Aomine’s team.”
The trio of boys went over to the bedhead’s side, Akashi walking in the middle of Tsukishima and Nijimura. The oldest of their group glanced down at his brother, eyes flickering quickly to Kei before going back to Seijuro. That man, Aomine, reminded him of their father. A bastard that doesn’t care about anyone, but himself. Using people in any way they see fit. Shuzo won’t let what happened to him happen to his only family. Over his dead body.
He’ll protect them with everything he has.