Chapter Text
Durmstrang arrives in large boats that rise straight out of the Black Lake, awing the Hogwarts students. To be honest, Akashi found the whole entrance a little bit dramatic - with bursting straight of the water and all, but the Headmaster had wanted to leave an impression and the Hogwarts students were certainly impressed, lining up and pointing at the students that walked out of the ramps and onto shore. It was the middle of fall but noticeably warmer than their own school, many of their students shedding their fur coats and hats, Akashi included. He folded his cloak over his arm, clad in a wool black sleeved shirt and pants, the weather much too warm for their heavy uniforms. Their Headmaster made them file over to the side of the Black Lake to wait for Beaubaxton’s arrival, the Hogwarts students staring in awe and perhaps, a bit of fright, at each of the Durmstrang’s students marching with stiff but firm posture and stick straight double file line.
It’s not long before Beauxbaton’s makes their arrival as well, a Hogwarts student pointing to the sky as large magical carriages descended from above and landed onto the field. Akashi felt great admiration for their horses, with their white manes and strong frame, and he thinks back to his own white horse at home, Yukimaru. The carriage doors swing open and out steps a beautiful woman - tall for a woman, but still shorter than their own Headmaster - with blonde hair, glasses, and pale blue robes. The students that follow her out of the carriage are just as beautiful as her, clad in similar blue robes and blue hats, holding themselves with pristine grace. There are more girls than boys and Akashi supposes it evens out Drumstrang who had more boys than girls.
The two Headmasters nod to each other respectfully and turn towards Hogwart’s own Headmaster, who hugs both of them and gesture for them to follow him. The school is nothing magnificent; Akashi has seen far more marvelous, but it has a homely feel that is not present at Durmstrang. It is simple by their standards, yet enchanting - Akashi likes it. They are instructed to wait while the Hogwarts students take their seats in the Great Hall before the tall doors swing open. Durmstrang makes their entrance first, standing firm and tall, marching in unison down the aisle and the students gawk at them, whispering and pointing. Akashi stands in the back of the line warily as instructed by his Headmaster - certainly, he was a notable student, but he did not think he deserved such treatment. Of course, this draws the most attention to him and he can hear the student’s whispers: “Bright red hair - don’t tell me, he’s an Akashi?” “I reckon that’s Akashi Seijuro...can you believe that?” and a few of the girls giggle. Akashi pays no attention, only holds his head high and sits down last at the Slytherin table, next to Nijimura and Himuro.
Beauxbatons comes in right after, bowing to the students who are captivated by their beauty. Certainly, they are a sight for sore eyes and Akashi suspects at least half of them have some amount of Veela blood. Near the back of the line however, there is a blonde boy standing next to a blue haired boy; the blonde is catching everyone’s attention with a dazzling smile and golden hair, but it’s the blue haired boy that captures Akashi’s attention. He holds himself elegantly, but not arrogantly and he’s not smiling, but not quite frowning either. He has a small frame and he’s more pretty than handsome, and Akashi thinks that he’s the prettiest thing in the room. Akashi keeps his eyes on him the entire time until they sit down in the table with the students who had blue in their uniform - Ravenclaw, if he recalled correctly.
“Did someone catch your eye?” Nijimura teases, noticing how Akashi was paying rapt attention. Akashi tears his gaze away from the boy and towards the Hogwarts Headmaster instead, who had taken his place on the podium.
“Perhaps,” Akashi hums.
When the Headmaster talks about the Triwizard Tournament, half of Durmstrang turns their heads toward Akashi. He is old enough to enter after all, successful in everything and the top student in the school - there were more than a couple of people who were betting a limb or two that Akashi would be the chosen Durmstrang champion. Akashi wonders vaguely if the blue haired boy was going to enter too; was he even old enough? Akashi knows nothing about him, although, looking over to the Ravenclaw table. he hopes to change that.
“Are you going to try to enter Shuu? I know I’m not,” Himuro says after the Headmaster is done and food appears in front of them - an assortment of everything, some things that Akashi found questionable.
“Nah, not quite my thing,” Nijimura shrugs, spooning mashed potatoes onto his plate. “Plus, I’m sure Akashi’s going to be the Durmstrang champion.”
“Excuse me, are you done with that?” a voice behind them asks cheerfully and the three of them turn around to see the blonde boy that had been standing next to the blue haired boy. Akashi’s sure he’s a Veela - his skin practically sparkles, and he’s drawing the attention of nearly half of the student population - female and male. The blonde hair boy points to the bowl of pudding and Himuro nods, handing him the bowl, the boy beaming in return. He doesn’t leave immediately though, and to all of their surprise, starts up a conversation.
“I’m Kise Ryouta,” the boy says. “I’m going to try entering the tournament for Beauxbatons. Is it really true that you’re Akashi Seijuro?” Kise asks, looking down at Akashi and Akashi feels vaguely annoyed, because really, why does everybody need to be so tall.
“Yes,” Akashi answers curtly and he wonders if it would be weird to ask Kise who his blue haired friend was.
“Wow! You are going to enter then, right?” Kise says excitedly and Akashi nods. “I’ll see you around then!” Kise smiles and he hurries off with the pudding.
“How enthusiastic,” Himuro comments vaguely. “I can’t see someone like him winning the tournament - he looks like he’s got nothing going for him but looks.”
“Looks are deceiving,” Nijimura reminds. “He looks like a Veela and Veela always have tricks up their sleeves.”
Akashi drops his name into the Goblet of Fire that night and the flames swallow his paper whole, the whole of Durmstrang clapping for him. He watches a dark blue haired boy and another tall redhead from Hogwarts with red ties - Gryffindors, Akashi presumes - drop their names into the cup and Kise follows them. He doesn’t see the blue haired boy around.
There’s thundering applause from Durmstrang when Akashi’s name flies out of the goblet and he gets up and walks proudly right out of the hall. He’s the first one in the room, and soon after, the dark blue haired boy from Hogwarts who had dropped his name into the cup walks into the room as well. He’s slouching and his hands are in his pocket, but his eyes are lit up in fervor and he and Akashi nod politely in acknowledgement at each other. Kise comes in last, bursting through the door all smiles, his blue robes billowing around him as he gushes about how he was looking forward to compete against the two of them. All three of them are told about the date of the first task and nothing else and sent back out of the room again, Kise chattering excitedly.
“Do you ever shut up?” the Hogwarts student, Aomine Daiki, says irritably. He’s trying to hide his excitement, Akashi notes.
“I’m just excited,” Kise sniffs. “Akashicchi understands me, right?”
“Akashicchi?” Akashi asks, raising an eyebrow at the nickname and Kise remains unabashed.
“I add ‘cchi’ to the names of people I respect,” Kise informs and Akashi doesn’t think knowing Kise for approximately 15 minutes was adequate time for Akashi to earn Kise’s respect already.
“We barely know each other,” Akashi points out and Kise shrugs, not letting that deter him.
“Maybe not everyone knows what you’re like, but everyone knows you are,” Kise says matter-of-factly. “Plus, I’ve seen you fly and anybody would respect your skill. I’m good at Quidditch too, but I think you’re better.”
Akashi’s heard compliments about his flying millions of times before, but coming from Kise, it sounds oddly sincere, and Akashi is flattered. He’s about to thank Kise before Aomine speaks up again, this time with interest.
“The two of you fly too?”
The next time Akashi sees the blue haired boy is when he’s outside with Nijimura, walking around the Black Lake. There, he sees Kise, the blue haired boy and another unfamiliar pretty pink haired girl. Akashi realizes with slight disappointment that the girl is practically clinging to the blue haired boy and he shakes his head. He shouldn’t be surprised that the boy had a girlfriend, after all, both of them were rather gorgeous. He looks away and asks Nijimura if they could go elsewhere.
“Huh? Oh well, if you want. It’s getting a bit cold out here anyways. Did you want to get a coat?”
Akashi’s not cold at all but he nods his head and looks away from the boy, a little bit crestfallen.
(He shouldn’t be disappointed, he doesn’t even know the boy. Yet it feels like he does.)
The first task turns out to be dragons and Akashi gets paired up against the Chinese Fireball. It’s not too difficult - he blinds the dragon with a simple curse, scoops up the golden egg and accomplishes the task with only one or two scratches from clambering about. Regardless, he gets whisked into the healing tent and has his wounds treated. He insists that they’re nothing to worry about, but the nurse only shoots him a glare and he quiets down. To the bed next to him, Kise is getting treated with a few burns on his forearm, but other than that, he’s unscathed and grins at Akashi.
“Nice job there. Didn’t get to see but judging by the cheers and commentary and the state you’re in, you did good,” Kise congratulates and Akashi returns the compliment.
“You did an impressive job with the Horntail,” Akashi says and Kise’s smile widens. The flap to the tent opens and Akashi’s heart skips a beat as he sees the blue haired boy and the pink haired girl slip into the tent to stand by the side of Kise’s bed.
“Oh, you did wonderful, Ki-chan!” the pink haired girl praises and Akashi wrinkles his nose slightly. He doesn’t really like her. (Now you’re just being biased, he chides himself. She’s probably a lovely person and it’s only the fact that she’s his girlfriend.)
“You used a great tactic,” the blue haired boy adds and Akashi thinks holy shit, he wants to listen to this boy’s voice forever. It’s gentle and quiet but firm and Akashi should probably stop staring.
“Thanks, Momoicchi, Kurokocchi!” Kise grins - Kuroko huh? At least Akashi had a name to match with the boy’s face now. “Oh, this is Akashicchi - whoops, I mean, Akashi Seijuro, the Durmstrang champion. Though, you already know that, Kise says, gesturing to Akashi and Akashi’s surprised as to why Kise would choose to introduce him.
“Hello,” Akashi says amicably, giving a wave and Kuroko and Momoi bow.
“Akashi-kun was impressive as well,” Kuroko says and Akashi thinks that his heart should not be beating that fast.
He sees Kuroko a few days later, in the Great Hall with Momoi and he thinks about the announcement of the Yule Ball. A few girls have been bold enough to ask Akashi already, but he had turned them all down. He’s not even quite acquainted with the two of them, besides the short introduction Kise had provided, but he walks over to greet them.
“Oh! Akashi-kun, what a pleasant surprise,” Momoi says. “Would you like to join us on our walk? Any friend of Ki-chan is a friend of ours.”
Akashi acquiesces, having nothing better to do - he’s not quite sure if Kise are him are technically friends - but he goes along with it and is surprised when Momoi links arms with him.
“I haven’t even asked the two of you what your full names were,” Akashi says.
“Momoi Satsuki,” Momoi pipes and in a quieter voice from Kuroko, “Kuroko Tetsuya.” Akashi finds that he likes the sound of Kuroko’s name a lot more than he should.
“Have you got anyone to go to the ball with, Akashi-kun?” Momoi asks and Akashi shakes his head. “Surely someone as handsome as you would have several offers.”
“I’ve gotten offers, but I’ve turned them all down,” Akashi replies and he hesitates before asking her “What about the two of you?”
“Hmm, I’ve gotten a few guys ask me, but most of them looked like the shallow type,” Momoi says, making a face. “So no one yet.”
Akashi does a double take at this - so they weren’t dating?
“The two of you aren’t going together?” Akashi asks in confusion and Momoi giggles.
“Nope! Tetsu-kun and I are just friends,” she reassures and she winks at Akashi, nudging Kuroko. “You know, Tetsu-kun hasn’t got a date yet either.”
Momoi is without a doubt, one of the sharpest people Akashi has ever met.
“Woman’s intuition,” she whispers in his ear later and pats him on the arm before walking away with Kuroko again.
In the month before the Yule Ball, Akashi becomes friends with Kise, Momoi, and Kuroko and after some chiding from Momoi, he had invited Kuroko down to the Black Lake, and there, he had asked Kuroko to come to the Yule Ball with him. He was pleased to see Kuroko blush and look away before mumbling a shy ‘yes’ and Akashi feels elated. Nijimura and Himuro would tease him for days afterwards when they saw how flustered he was when he came back - Kuroko had pecked his cheek quickly before hurrying off and leaving a giddy Akashi.
On the night of the Yule Ball, he waits for Kuroko at the bottom of the steps and Kuroko comes out in simple black robes, yet they look incredibly alluring on him. He holds out his hand to Kuroko, kissing it and smiling at him through half lidded eyes.
"Akashi-kun is so embarrassing," Kuroko says, looking at the ground and Akashi links their arms together.
"We have to dance first," Akashi reminds and Kuroko pales slightly, mumbling something under his breath. They line up at the entrance to the Great Hall, behind Kise and Aomine and Kise turns around, giving them a thumbs up. Akashi finds out that Kuroko isn't exactly the best dancer in the room: he steps on Akashi's feet a lot and occasionally crashes into Akashi's chest, but Akashi doesn't mind one bit.
"I'm sorry, I probably should have told you I was an awful dancer," Kuroko mutters as Akashi spins him around and Akashi smiles.
"It's fine, I don't mind at all. I'm just enjoying being able to spend time with you," Akashi replies pleasantly.
They have a wonderful evening but Akashi loses courage to kiss Kuroko at the last moment and instead opts for a kiss on the cheek. Kuroko still blushes though, and Akashi doesn't think he minds - as long as he has another chance in the future.
The second task is to dive into the lake and retrieve "what Akashi would miss the most" according to the Golden Egg. He had decided to work with a simple bubble head charm for the time he would have to spend underwater and he lines up at the dock along with Kise and Aomine, shedding his robes. He doesn't see Kuroko around and realization and dread hits him all at once as soon as the whistle blows. He taps his head with his wand and dives into the lake, gasping at the freezing water.
Once he surpasses the shock of the cold water, he swims down deeper and deeper in the Black Lake, looking for Kuroko - they had taken Kuroko, hadn't they? Akashi has no doubt that they would never let any harm happen to the hostages, but still. He fends off a few Grindylows, blasting them away and he passes a few mermen, but they pay him no mind and only continue on their way. Akashi doesn't know how long he's taken before he finally sees three students tied up against posts at the bottom of the lake and the sight of Kuroko unmoving and sickly pale makes him sick. He swims over, undoing the knots in the rope and gently, he swims with Kuroko back into the surface, gasping for air as he resurfaces, the students in a cheering frenzy. Kuroko is flailing slightly as well, gasping for air and Akashi realizes that the students must have been put to sleep underwater. He presses a quick kiss to Kuroko's temple and helps him swim to shore, both of them shivering.
"Are you okay?" Akashi asks hoarsely, coughing up a bit of water as towels are wrapped around the two of them as they sit on the shore. They were the first ones to resurface, although Kise and Aomine had come up soon after, all within the time limit.
"Fine, thanks to Akashi-kun," Kuroko replies with a small smile and Akashi lets out a sigh of relief. Kuroko is still shaking though, and then looks at Akashi hesitantly before scooting over to Akashi unceremoniously and plopping himself down in Akashi's lap. Akashi's eyes widen in surprise, but he's not going to complain at the bold action from the usually quiet boy.
"Bold are we, Tetsuya?" Akashi asks, nuzzling Kuroko's neck. Their bodies are mostly dried off, although their clothes and hair are still wet and Kuroko rests his head on Akashi's chest.
"You're warm," Kuroko notes and Akashi wraps his arms around Kuroko, kissing the top of his head.
"We've only known each for a short time, yet you've already become the most important thing in my life," Akashi murmurs and Kuroko shudders slightly. "Do you know what you do to a man, Tetsuya?"
The third task is to make it through the maze and before the task, Kuroko comes up behind Akashi and snakes his arms around his waist.
"Please stay safe," Kuroko begs and Akashi turns around so he's facing Kuroko and runs a hand through his hair.
"Of course," Akashi assures and Kuroko separates from Akashi with great reluctance before returning back to the stands. Akashi is the first one into the maze and as soon as he enters, the entrance closes behind him.
After entering deeper into the maze, he's faced against a Blast-Ended Skrewt, a nasty creature who gives him quite a bit of trouble and he's left with a long scratch down his left arm and short of breath, but nothing too serious.
The bushes around him are rustling and Akashi stiffens, quickening his paze. He takes a series of methodical lefts and rights along with some guidance with his wand and only hits dead ends three times before he encounters the sphinx. He answers her riddle without a second thought and she pads away, letting him through - he can see the trophy in the center and after a cursory glance at his surroundings, he jogs up to it, captivated by it's glow. He reaches out and picks it up and starts to run back the way he came, encountering no trouble this time. He blasts the entrance of the maze open and bursts out from the maze, trophy held over his head in victory and the stands burst into cheers and applause.
A flash of blue comes running straight towards him and barrels into him, causing both of them to crash to the floor, the trophy falling to the side and before Akashi can even register what's going on, there's a pair of warm lips on his own, kissing him fervently.
Tetsuya, Tetsuya, Tetsuya, is all Akashi can think as he wraps his arms around Kuroko's neck to pull the two of them closer and he tangles a hand in Kuroko's hair as he runs his tongue along Kuroko's bottom lip and Kuroko moans into his mouth. There's even more cheering in the back as the students point at the couple, but neither of them pay attention. The two of them break away for a moment, their faces flushed red and panting slightly as Kuroko whispers "congratulations" before the two of their mouths crash together again and Akashi thinks that this is better than any prize the tournament had to offer.