Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kagami had never really suffered from The Case of Mondays, but this particular Monday just felt wrong ever since he woke up; he could feel the impending disaster looming over him, contaminating the air. He was so utterly suspicious of everything that even Kuroko’s sudden appearance at his side didn’t manage to take him by surprise. What Kuroko said much later on their way home, however, did – confirming Kagami’s bad feeling, lulled to sleep by the uneventful day at school.

“I have an embarrassing confession and subsequent request to make.”

“Sure,” he muttered cautiously.

“See, Momoi-san had confessed to me yesterday,” said Kuroko, barely hiding his discomfort.

“Oh did she now? Good for her, I guess. About time.”

“Excuse me?”

Kuroko sounded genuinely surprised and Kagami would laugh at his obliviousness if he had been in better mood. He only shrugged and offered Kuroko a lopsided smile.

“Well, she’s been in love with you since forever, right? Everyone knows that.”

“Do they?” muttered Kuroko, frowning in confusion. He sounded displeased now, and even more uncomfortable than before. “Because, to be quite honest, it came to me as such a surprise that I did something unforgivable.”

Great. This day just couldn’t have gotten any worse. Kagami sighed and urged Kuroko to tell him everything. Kuroko seemed reluctant but determined at the same time and it tugged nastily at Kagami’s stomach. What the hell had he done to behave like that now?

“It’s really embarrassing for me to talk about. But I have no choice since it involves you…”

“Me?! What the hell, Kuroko?!”

“I apologize, Kagami-kun, but-” Kuroko sighed in frustration. “Long story short, Momoi-san is now under the impression that you and I are a couple.”

Kagami’s brow twitched as his hand closed on the top of Kuroko’s head in a vicious grip. Kuroko winced slightly in guilt.

“Make the long story long,” gritted out Kagami. “Now.”

“Yes. But can you please remove your hand? I fear for my life.”

“That was my intention,” huffed Kagami, letting his hand drop. “For fuck’s sake, Kuroko! How did manage to turn getting confessed to by a girl into becoming my boyfriend?!”

Kuroko patted his hair back into relative order and scowled, looking for the right words.

“After I rejected Momoi-san and apologized properly, she asked for the reason. Like I said before, her confession came as a surprise to me. I was in such a deep shock, in fact, that when she claimed it was because I was in love with you, Kagami-kun, I completely forgot to deny it. Before I even registered what my dumbfounded silence meant for her, Momoi-san burst into tears and left. I am deeply sorry, Kagami-kun.”

Kagami blinked stupidly as Kuroko bowed in apology. He sighed loudly; really, what else was there to do? Kuroko was hopeless, even more than Kagami apparently. There was no point in getting angry at him, he made a stupid but harmless mistake.

“It’s fine,” he muttered awkwardly. “It’s not the end of the world. Seriously, don’t act like I would be so completely grossed out by the idea of going out with you. You’re not that ugly.”

Even though Kagami never thought about Kuroko – or anyone for that matter, male or female – like that, he was speaking honestly. If he would ever suddenly realize he had the hots for Kuroko, he would be neither shocked or disgusted. They were best friends and they worked together like a well-oiled machine. They got each other; you could even say they were soulmates. Sometimes Kagami thought he didn’t need anyone else.

If Kagami had been better at multitasking maybe he would find the time and energy to think about how abnormal it was for a teenage boy to be so romantically indifferent, but basketball and sleep and food and Kuroko were basically occupying all this time and he really didn’t have any of it left to wonder whether he was gay or straight or something else entirely. It just never seemed to matter; things were fine the way they were and he was never the one to worry in advance.

Kuroko smiled gratefully before drawing his eyebrows together again. Kagami sighed inwardly. Of course, there was more.

“What?”

“My request, Kagami-kun. I’ve thought it through and I have decided it would be best for everyone to… let Momoi-san think we’re together, at least for now. She is a tenacious woman and I’m afraid she would continue to pursue me, try to convince me somehow, if she learned that I am, for lack of a better word, available. So I am really glad you’re fine with this, Kagami-kun. However, I’m certain that Momoi-san has alarmed all of my former teammates by now. Thus, my request is for you to… lie, should any of them ask. I fully understand if this is too much t-”

“Shut up already, or you’ll pass out! That’s the most I’ve heard you talk, ever. Don’t hurt yourself.”

The faint blush on Kuroko’s cheeks nothing but confirmed Kagami’s concerns. Kuroko was visibly stressed by the entire situation and the additional strain of doing something as dishonorable as asking Kagami to lie for him was clearly taking its toll. Kuroko was so ridiculous Kagami couldn’t help but chuckle and ruffle his hair playfully.

“Don’t sweat it, man. Whatever you need. What’s the worst that can happen? Aomine won’t challenge me to a duel, will he?”

Kuroko smiled weakly and nodded. “I’m sure they won’t be too much of a hindrance, if at all. Thank you, Kagami-kun.”

“No problem. Still... Not that it’s any of my business, you don’t have to tell me, but. Why did you reject her?”

Kuroko’s flinch was barely noticeable but it was Kagami’s job most of the time to notice him. Then a mischievous smirk bloomed on his face as he looked up to Kagami.

“I will tell you this as a reward after your noble mission is complete. Is that acceptable?”

Kagami spluttered indignantly. “What am I, your knight in shining armor?!”

“I wonder…” said Kuroko with a thoughtful hum.

“Whatever, freak. And if Aomine does challenge me to a duel and I die, you can’t have my anything! Everything goes to Furi!”

“So cold, Kagami-kun…”

And that was that. The beginning of Kagami Taiga’s Great Monday Disaster.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The next Monday was just uneventful as the previous two, but the bad feeling was twice as strong, which prompted Kagami to ask Kuroko to walk home together. After Kagami dealt with Coach’s errand and finally left the school, he found Kuroko waiting for him by the gate, just as promised.

As soon as Kuroko had him at arms-length, he took Kagami’s hand in his. It kind of surprised him; they touched all the time, but never like this. It felt intimate, but not in an embarrassing way. If anything, it seemed natural. He was about to ask what was going on when suddenly Kise appeared before them, gaping unattractively at their joined hands.

“I can’t believe it, Kurokocchi!” he cried. “Kagamicchi, I can’t believe it!”

“Please, believe it, Kise-kun,” deadpanned Kuroko.

“That’s not how it works, Kurokocchi! Both Momoicchi and Midorimacchi said it was true but I don’t believe it!”

“God, you’re loud,” mumbled Kagami, instinctively tightening his hold on Kuroko’s hand. “You didn’t mention Murasakibara.”

“Maybe then I would believe it, but he is too lazy to text me back, or even to answer my calls! And Kagamicchi should shut up! Taking advantage of our sweet innocent Kurokocchi like that!”

“I thought you said you didn’t believe it,” taunted Kagami.

“I am neither sweet nor innocent,” protested Kuroko with a pout.

“You are kind of sweet,” said Kagami with a grin at the same time as Kise broke down into crocodile tears, yelling: “You are the epitome of innocence, Kurokocchi!”

“You’re embarrassing me, Kagami-kun.”

“Don’t ignore me, Kurokocchi!”

Kagami lifted their linked hands to his mouth to hide his grin, brushing his lips against Kuroko’s soft cold skin, looking him in the eye. He had entirely too much fun riling up Kise like that. But Kise fell disappointingly silent all of the sudden and Kagami reluctantly tore his eye off Kuroko’s blushing face to look at him. The pained grimace of betrayal was completely gone and replaced with a serious frown of confusion.

“I can’t believe it,” he muttered again.

Kagami was about to roll his eyes when he noticed the shocked blankness in Kise’s, who put his hand to his mouth and started babbling to himself.

“It is true... Why didn’t I see this before? It was so obvious! I knew there was no way your weird telepathy thing could work if you were just friends. But noooo, Kasamatsu-senpai said not everyone was trying to get into their teammates’ pants. Noooo, not everyone was in the state of permanent sexual frustration like stupid Kise, without any boundaries or respect for his elders’ personal space. Well, take that, senpai, because stupid Kise was right and-”

Kagami gaped dumbly as Kise was completely losing his shit right before his eyes. He was so shocked he didn’t instinctively resist when he felt Kuroko tugging at his hand, leading him away from the gate and from Kise, still mumbling to himself like a madman.

“Is he going to be alright?”

“Probably,” said Kuroko in an oddly irritated tone.

“What was that about? He completely flipped off! And he bought it just like that! What did you do, Kuroko? Misdirected him or something?”

“I didn’t do anything. It must have been Kagami-kun’s exceptional acting skills.”

“Ah… right… but I wasn’t-”

“Wasn’t what, Kagami-kun?”

Acting. Kagami didn’t consciously do or say anything that would make Kise believe that he and Kuroko were a couple. He just held Kuroko’s hand and behaved naturally, did what he felt like doing…

“You can let go of my hand now, Kagami-kun. Kise-kun can’t see us anymore.”

Kagami frowned at their joined hands before letting go reluctantly; his palm felt weirdly cold almost instantly. It tugged at something in Kagami’s chest that dangerously resembled regret, but before he could put any more thought into it, Kuroko spoke again.

“Akashi-kun called me.”

“You? Not me?”

Kuroko shook his head with a small smile. “He said the Emperor was above petty things like romantic relationships of his subjects but he would grace me, since I rank slightly higher than Kagami-kun, with his curiosity.”

“You do realize this guy is completely fucked in the head?” asked Kagami, unable to wrap his mind around what he just heard. “What was he so curious about?”

“I am aware. He wanted to know what game I was playing. He said it can’t be true since he hasn’t predicted it. He was generally being a petulant child about being wrong.”

“Are you?” blurted out Kagami. “Playing a game?”

Kuroko bit his lip. “Besides lying to everyone who cares to ask that we are together? So of course Akashi-kun isn’t wrong at all, not that he can have the satisfaction…”

Kagami face-palmed himself. He literally forgot they were technically lying around, because he hadn’t had to tell even one lie ever since the whole thing had started. They just kept assuming, without any prompting whatsoever from Kagami. Midorima and Takao, Kise, even Tatsuya; it was like they saw something in his and Kuroko’s regular relationship that was, apparently, constantly escaping Kagami’s notice, but spoke volumes to all of them.

Contrary to popular belief, Kagami didn’t enjoy feeling like an idiot. It was the reason why he simultaneously wanted and was afraid to ask Kuroko, right there and then, if they had become some sort of unorthodox couple a long time ago without Kagami ever realizing it.

But it wasn’t for Kuroko to answer, was it? It was for Kagami to figure out, all on his own. Surely, he must still remember how to do things alone. Kuroko hadn’t always been his shadow after all, always there for Kagami. There had been a life before him. There had been a Kagami before Kuroko…

“I guess it only leaves Aomine-kun’s challenge to a duel,” said Kuroko lightly, pulling Kagami away from his thoughts.

“Yeah,” he stammered out.

“Do you still plan to leave everything to Furihata-kun?”

Kuroko’s playful tone made Kagami snort and grin. This was what he knew. This was what they were. This was familiar and safe. This Kagami could do blindfolded.

“I thought about leaving some stuff to others on the team. Kiyoshi and Mitobe could take my clothes. Izuki would probably like my album collection, and Hyuuga could take the sports magazines. Coach should have my apartment; her home, where the perverted old man lives, isn’t a safe environment. I’m not sure about Koganei, though, what do you think?”

“So cold, Kagami-kun…” said Kuroko with a scornful sigh. “There will be nothing left for Furihata-kun.”

Kuroko smirked at him teasingly and Kagami laughed. This – this he could do.

Chapter Text

The following week was like a haze. Kagami would space out during classes, focus briefly during the basketball practice, just enough to avoid Coach’s wrath, and end up home analyzing his relationship with Kuroko in all its complexity, without ever arriving at any conclusions. Nothing really changed between them; not the way the synced, not the way they gridded occasionally. But Kagami started to somehow distance himself, at least enough to change perspective. It helped a bit.

First of all, he took Kuroko for granted, which was something he would never have realized otherwise, without, say, Kuroko suddenly disappearing from his side, which he never actually did. Kagami had never entertained the idea of parting with Kuroko so now that he did, he was surprised to discover it practically crippled him with fear. He tried to imagine his life without Kuroko in it and he couldn’t. Kagami was unimaginative most of the time, but not that unimaginative. He could easily picture his life without Tatsuya, Alex, his parents, basketball even; but not Kuroko. Now if that wasn’t absolutely terrifying, Kagami didn’t know what was.

Another thing that Kagami realized was the possible reason why he had never really bothered to stop and think what other people see when they look at them; on the court or outside of it. As embarrassing as it was, he had to admit it was because most of the time he spent with Kuroko, Kagami didn’t really notice anything or anyone else. If Kagami had to explain it, he would say that he and Kuroko created a unique kind of Zone, muting out all the unnecessary elements, leaving them focused entirely on each other. Kagami understood why it might have seemed strange to people, even if to him, it was the most natural state he could think of.

When Monday came and Kagami headed home from school, he was too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay attention to the nagging bad feeling coiling in his bones. He wasn’t sure whether it evaporated, or encompassed him so entirely he stopped feeling it, when he noticed Aomine waiting for him around his apartment, lazily bouncing a basketball.

“Yo. Wanna shoot some hoops?”

Kagami nodded stiffly, opening his door. “Let me just change.”

Once they were on the basketball court near Kagami’s place, Aomine was unnaturally silent as he simply passed the ball to Kagami.

“Satsuki cried,” he mumbled finally. “A lot. I won’t go easy on you.”

Kagami smirked. So it was going to be duel after all. “What happens when I win?”

“If you win it probably means I cracked my head open and you have to take me to hospital.”

“Full of yourself like always… Bring it.”

But Kagami hadn’t been himself lately, had he? Constantly losing focus if he even managed to grasp it in the first place, his head invaded by images that had never even crossed his mind before – of Kuroko, of them, of possibilities. It was no wonder he lost against Aomine; he wasn’t angry. But Aomie was nothing but.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Did Tetsu finally managed to completely suck out the shreds of talent through your dick?”

Well, now Kagami was angry. “You take that back!” he yelled, reaching for the collar of Aomine’s shirt. “Don’t talk about him like that! Have some fucking respect!”

Aomine’s smirk was knowing and merciless as he gritted out his next words. “Protective, aren’t we. He must be really good in the sack to have you wrapped around his finger like that. Say, is he a screamer?”

Kagami didn’t mean to punch him, really – he was impulsive but not completely insane – but his hand acted on its own. He could hear the sound of bones cracking under the roar of the blood in his ears. No. He wouldn’t stand for that. He towered over Aomine – still smirking as he wiped the blood off his mouth – hellbent on finally telling him everything he had wanted to say for a very long time. When Aomine spit out the blood too dangerously close to Kagami’s shoe to be an accident, Kagami straddled his stomach and grabbed him by the collar again, bringing their faces together.

“Listen to me, you piece of shit. You don’t talk about Tetsuya like that, you don’t think about him like that. Stay away from him unless you understand that. In fact, don’t even look at him. I’ve never forgiven you for what you did to him and if you weren’t so important to Kuroko I would fucking kill you in a heartbeat. Are we clear?”

When he finally released Aomine’s shirt and got up on his feet, he noticed that the other boy’s shoulders were shaking violently. Shit, did he go too far? But it soon become clear that Aomine was laughing; Kagami frowned.

“Oh man... I fucking love this! Satsuki will love this! You’re so pathetically in love it’s actually amazing! We were worried that Tetsu would be wasted on a hotheaded idiot like you, but you’re a fucking poster boy for the perfect boyfriend! Oh man, I think I’m gonna cry, this is priceless! Satsuki will pee herself! Uwah, you were so scary, Kagami!”

Kagami blinked slowly in utter confusion, dazedly hung up on one particular word that had left Aomine’s mouth. Aomine got up from the ground and slung his arm around Kagami’s shoulders, wiping the tears from his eyes. His smirk crumbled suddenly and his face turned dead serious.

“Though it’s good that you haven’t forgiven me yet because I haven’t forgiven myself either,” he said before patting Kagami on the back. “Come one, pull your head out of Tetsu’s ass for a moment and play one more game with me.”

Kagami picked up the ball as Aomine trotted in the direction of the hoop. As he was aiming for Aomine’s head, he told himself that it was for being disrespectful towards Kuroko again. The satisfaction he felt upon hearing Aomine’s offended cry as the ball connected with his head had nothing to do with the fact that Aomine was the one to finally use the key word and make Kagami realize it. He was right; what Kagami felt for Kuroko was definitely and undeniably love. The kind of inexplicable love he had never experienced before and doubted he ever would again.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week was, unsurprisingly, a complete nightmare. It wasn’t that he was unhappy, on the contrary; he was ecstatic, at least initially. Everything about his life made sense and his entire body was pleasantly buzzing with unfamiliar warmth – he was in love. But there was one significant problem – namely, the object of his affection.

The thought that just because Kagami was in love didn’t necessarily mean that Kuroko was too, hit Kagami like a ton of bricks when he noticed no change in Kuroko’s behavior. Of course, he thought at first, it was only Kagami who would be affected by his own great revelation. Kuroko didn’t know about it after all – idiot Kagami had to tell him. But the confession died on his lips as he was suddenly taken in by doubt.

What if Kuroko didn’t feel the same?

So Kagami fled, as awkward as ever, and continued to dodge Kuroko for the entire week. It wasn’t graceful or subtle; it wasn’t safe, considering how easily irritable their coach was; it wasn’t even what Kagami truly wanted. But what else was he supposed to do when faced with possibility of losing Kuroko?

When Kuroko finally managed to corner him on a Monday morning, Kagami wasn’t even mildly surprised; it was a Monday after all. He didn’t protest when Kuroko dragged him to the empty locker room and announced they were skipping the first class. Kuroko didn’t seem angry, though; he didn’t seem any more emotional than usual, in fact. He even smiled at Kagami softly.

“Kagami-kun has been avoiding me. Should I read it as the fake end of our fake relationship?”

Kuroko’s weak attempt at humor, his gently teasing tone, the mischievous flickers in his eyes – all of that only annoyed Kagami. It reminded him of what he had been missing all week, while trying to run away from at the same time. Kagami was angry, at himself and at Kuroko, and he was tired of running.

“We don’t have a fake relationship, Kuroko,” he snapped. “We never had. I haven’t faked one thing. Not one. And all your skittles friends still pranced around singing the great tale of our legendary love.”

“Kagami-kun is angry,” decided Kuroko.

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“But why? Is it me? Have I done something to upset-”

“I love you,” blurted out Kagami, cutting short Kuroko’s distressed rant.

Soon his own eyes widened in shock as he realized what had just happened. His first instinct was to lie, to make up excuses, but he owed Kuroko the truth. He drew in a shuddering breath to let out everything he had been holding locked away deep in his heart and looked straight at Kuroko.

“I love you, Kuroko," he repeated in a broken voice. "In ways I can’t even understand and I ran away from you in some pathetic attempt not to lose you. I didn’t know what else to do. I still don’t know what to do, and you have the great misfortune of being my best friend and the only person I can ask for help. I don’t know what to do, Kuroko. Please, tell me what to do.”

As soon as the string of the most embarrassing words put together left Kagami’s mouth, he wished a meteor bigger even that his humiliation struck down the school gym and buried him alive in a pit deep enough to contain the whole of his mortification. Kuroko was staring at him with wide eyes and Kagami’s entire skin threatened to burn itself to ashes.

“I gotta go,” stammered out Kagami, grabbing his bag.

The touch of Kuroko’s hand on his was sudden and disempowering; Kagami could feel himself sag as the tension sipped out of his body just from that.

“I also have a confession to make,” said Kuroko, wrapping his hand more firmly around Kagami’s. “I lied to Kagami-kun.”

Kagami turned around abruptly, almost hitting Kuroko across the face with his flailing hand; just as he thought he couldn’t feel any more pathetic. Kuroko only smiled, blushing slightly.

“When Momoi-san asked if I loved Kagami-kun, I didn’t forget to deny it out of shock. I said yes. I said yes with all the certainty I could muster. Do you understand, Kagami-kun? Even before that, Kagami-kun should know that Momoi-san is not a person that assumes anything out of thin air. She interprets cold facts. She would have never asked for confirmation if she wasn’t absolutely certain of her suspicions.”

Kagami felt light-headed. He must have looked like a complete idiot, with eyes impossibly wide in his red face, mouth hanging open. Kuroko smiled, lacing their fingers together.

“Since Kagami-kun is really stupid, I will say it more clearly. I also love Kagami-kun.”

Only when Kuroko’s hand reached out to brush his cheek did Kagami release the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He laughed then – shocked, embarrassed, and happy – letting the small arms wrap around his waist.

“Stupid Kagami.”

“Yeah.”

BONUS:

Kagami soon discovered he loved kissing Kuroko; it was the best, hands down. He couldn’t believe he had worried even for a second that he might not enjoy it. Now, as Kuroko pushed him down Kagami’s own bed to press their lips together with intentions clear as the winter sky, Kagami wouldn’t want to be doing anything else; not even playing basketball.

“Say you love me,” said Kuroko between kisses.

He was very demanding in this way when they were making out, quite unsurprisingly so, but it still set Kagami’s blood on fire. Kagami wasn’t embarrassed to say it anymore either, not when it caused Kuroko to moan shamelessly in his mouth. The sound always tugged and pulled at Kagami’s insides and he loved it.

Kagami pressed lightly against Kuroko’s shoulders, immediately contradicting his action of pushing him away by following Kuroko’s mouth with his own. But there was still one, considerably important, issue to be discussed.

“I meant it when I said I have literally no idea if anything will even happen down there,” he mumbled guiltily against Kuroko’s throat.

“It’s fine if it doesn’t. I know Kagami-kun loves me.”

Kagami sighed with relief and grinned. “Yeah?”

Kuroko nodded and kissed him, slowly, purposefully, lovingly. Kagami’s worries soon evaporated as they fell into the natural flow of touching, kissing, and rutting against each other, forgetting about everything except each other. When he felt Kuroko’s hard dick press against his stomach, he groaned appreciatively and realized that he himself was already half-hard.

“Oh, thank God, it’s working!” he cried in triumph.

Kuroko immediately pulled away and scooted down to settle between Kagami’s legs, tugging at the waistband of his shorts.

“Guess I’m at least Kuroko-sexual,” he joked weakly.

Kuroko looked at him blankly from behind Kagami’s own dick he was currently holding in his hand and Kagami didn’t know if he wanted to laugh, or cry, or beg.

“That was really lame, Kagami-kun.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry. I probably spend too much time with Izuki.”

“You’re probably right. Well then, itadakimasu.”

Kagami barked out a laugh. “And you’re calling me lame? That was probably the lamest thing you could have possibl- ohfuckshitgodfuckingdamnit! I take it back! You’re the least lame person I know, oh my God, Kuroko!”

Kuroko hummed around him and Kagami wondered, as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, why had he ever bothered worrying about anything in the first place.