Title: Sorry Sketching

Pairing: Sakurai and Kuroko

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ideas.

A/N: Dedicated to Oj~. Used in the Misdirection guess-the-author 2014 event which I apparently sucked in.

-x-x-

At Touou High, the days passed by normally. Sakurai Ryou never really stood out since he was well known as an otaku. Luckily for him, he was best friends with Imayoshi Shoichi, well known genius of the school and the Basketball Team's captain. No one dared to tease him in fear of being smacked down with Imayoshi's superior brain. They would be so humiliated that it wouldn't even register in their mind until he walked away with his signature smirk. He was truly a force to be reckoned with.

"Oi, Sakurai," a tanned male with dark blue hair called him over with a grin.

Sakurai immediately reverted to a shaking mess of incoherent apologies, "S-Sorry Aomine-kun."

Aomine Daiki grinned, but felt a sharp pain in his side so he held up a hand, "Calm down, just wondering if you want to sit with us."

It was currently lunch time and Sakurai decided that the weather was perfect for practicing his scenery skills. Normally no one would be outside, but he guessed that it was too much of a perfect day to pass up.

"S-Sure," he smiled and sat down. He was calmer than before, but was still too nervous to look the people opposite of him in the eye. On his left sat his best friend who sat parallel to Aomine. On Aomine's right was none other than Kuroko Tetsuya, the source of his nerves going wild. He would never admit it to anyone, but he had a crush on him ever since they first met.

Sakurai sighed as he sat on the lush grass outside of the gym. He wanted to go home already, but he promised Imayoshi that the two of them would be going home together since lately they couldn't. Today the Basketball Team was supposed to get out earlier than usual to get ready for exam season, though it wasn't like Imayoshi needed to study or anything.

"Hah...," Sakurai sighed out loud and lay down on the grass. Lately he hadn't felt like doing anything. He felt no inspiration for any artwork or even sketches to work on. He never realized how badly a slump could affect his work. Although no one knew from his school, he was a popular artist and even works for commission. "I guess I should go to the library or something to read." He made sure to text his best friend that he would be at the library in the meantime.

Sakurai walked to the library practically dragging his feet. When he finally got inside, he stopped at the entrance and noticed how busy it was. "Maybe I shouldn't stay here," he wondered. He would feel bad if he stayed just to draw when everyone else was cramming for good grades. However, a few people suddenly got up to leave. Now there was suddenly a huge spot left. "It wouldn't hurt to stay for a little while..." Imayoshi would be done soon anyway.

As he sat there, he just let his thoughts take over his hand and random images started to form on the paper. He sighed again; nothing was popping up at all. He stood to get a book for inspiration and walked over to one of the shelves to randomly grab one. Just as he was about to grab one, his hand touched a smaller one. "Ah, sorry!" He said rather loudly.

"Shh," the person beside him raised a finger to tell him to be quiet, "Here."

Sakurai blinked, he felt like he noticed them before. He was sure that he saw their light blue eyes and hair. "You can have it," he shook his head, "I don't need it."

The person observed him quietly and then smiled slightly, "Thanks," the pin on their shirt caught his eye.

"Kuroko Tetsuya...Ah!" Sakurai whispered. Now he remembered. He was the boy that would always be around Aomine and Momoi.

From that point on, his eyes naturally followed Kuroko. As he sat in the library's chair, images would flood into his mind of Kuroko's soft features. The way his short hair seemed soft, his cheeks pale and his lips slightly pink, it honestly drove him crazy just thinking about it. He decided to move to a corner desk in the library so that no one could see what he was drawing. He even took out his other supplies to color it. When he was finished, it was a close up of Kuroko's face. It looked as if it was airbrushed and done with more than just markers and pens. It was his most beautiful creation and he instantly felt embarrassed since he did it without permission. Before he could tell Kuroko about it, Imayoshi came to pick him up along with Aomine and Momoi. With three more people there, he was too nervous to even speak a word to Kuroko the entire way home until they parted ways.

Sakurai shivered slightly just thinking about it. It had already been a few months since then and his situation only got worse. Whenever he didn't have a set image in mind, he would think of different shades of blue. Somehow, he didn't feel satisfied with just sketches. He bought canvases and painted for hours with Kuroko in mind. He would imagine Kuroko sitting on a sandy beach with a shirt and shorts, his knees tucked into his chest as the wind blew his hair away from his face. He would stare into the distance, what he was looking at, Sakurai wasn't sure. It was too surreal to even look like a painting. His manager seriously thought he took it with an expensive camera that pro photographers would use.

He decided that he needed to tell Kuroko before someone comes by and tells him they want to buy it. He couldn't just sell a painting without his muse seeing it first. Since then, he would try to find alone time with Kuroko, but with his shyness in the way, he never did.

"I don't know what I should do anymore Sho-kun," Sakurai sighed as he sat on his friends bed, watching him play video games.

Imayoshi didn't even glance at him as he pressed buttons on the controller, "About what? If it's about school, I'm not going to help you study."

"That's not it," Sakurai shook his head, "Though my Humanities grade has kind of lowered lately."

"Oh, why don't you ask Kuroko to help you then? Although his grades are average, his Humanities grade is one of the top in the school."

"I wouldn't..." Sakurai grinned and threw his arms in the air, "That's perfect!" He grabbed his phone, looking for his number. He remembered that he had it since Aomine would often forget his whenever Kuroko needed him. "You're a genius Sho-kun!" He jumped off the bed and grabbed his things. "I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

"See ya," Imayoshi never once looked away from the screen until he was sure that his best friend was out of his house. "Finally that idiot is going to man up and make the first move," he spoke into his mic.

"Oh? He's going to call Tetsu? About time," a rough voice on the other end chuckled. "Best two out of three?"

"You're on."

-x-x-

A few days passed and it was finally the weekend. Sakurai walked happily to the school library with a bento box in his hand. He made sure to prepare them food in case their studying made them hungry. He was surprised that Kuroko even agreed to his surprised call. He barely even remembered what he said to make him say yes. He shrugged the thought away. He was way too happy to even be nervous for once. When he got to the school, he realized how empty it was besides the sport teams and clubs that would meet even during the weekend.

He walked into the library. It was practically deserted except for Kuroko who was sitting at one of the middle desks, his pencil running on the paper. He looked up and beckoned him over.

"So what exactly do you need help with?" Kuroko asked. He had a few textbooks beside him that were relevant to Humanities. He was completely serious with helping him getting a better grade.

"Uh..." Sakurai took his supplies out, accidently grabbing his box of markers and quickly stuffed it into his bag. "I kind of had a hard time on the last lesson."

"Ah," Kuroko looked for his notes on it and the two continued to study for a few hours.

They decided to stop when Sakurai's stomach growled. "S-Sorry," he blushed.

"It's alright," Kuroko closed the text book, making sure to use a book mark so they could return to it later.

"I brought lunch for us," Sakurai shyly took out the bento he prepared.

Kuroko didn't say anything as Sakurai opened it. It looked delicious and resembled a Sakura tree. "You made this?"

Sakurai smiled and nodded. He gave Kuroko a pair of chopsticks and mumbled a quick, "Itadakimasu," before devouring the food he made.

Kuroko hid his smile behind his sleeve before eating.

-x-x-

"I'm going to head to the bathroom fast," Sakurai smiled after putting his stuff back into his bag since they were ready to leave.

"Alright, it's over there," Kuroko pointed to the right side of the library.

"Thanks," he smiled and stood. However, the strap of his bag was stuck on his pants and it ended up falling open, revealing its contents.

"Ah, I'll help you," Kuroko kneeled to pick the stuff up and then caught sight of his sketchbook.

The page it was opened to was none other than the first image Sakurai made of him. "What is this...?" Kuroko decided to looked through the rest of it.

"I-It's not what it looks like," Sakurai shook his head, his hands shaking.

"It looks like a drawing of me," Kuroko turned the pages. All the colored ones had his hair color on them.

"T-They're ugly, huh?" There was no point in trying to defend his situation.

"They're beautiful," Kuroko smiled. All the stunning ones were of him. The others couldn't even compare. It just showed how much time he spent on them.

Sakurai was taken aback, "Really? Aren't you disgusted?"

"A little," Kuroko stated, hurting Sakurai a little bit, "But their quality makes up for it."

Sakurai blushed at the compliment even though he felt a slight stab at the first part. "I-I'm sorry for doing it without your permission..."

Kuroko wondered why he needed to apologize for it so much; there must have been a perverted one somewhere. "...Is there more?"

"Y-Yes," Sakurai rubbed the back of his head, "I-I can show them to you if you like..." He offered, expecting him to say no.

"Sure," Kuroko nodded.

"Eh?"

-x-x-

Sakurai walked with Kuroko home since all of his work was in the attic of his home. His parents allowed him to use it as his workspace since it was the only spare room in the house.

When he allowed Kuroko in, he was silenced. All over the attic there were different versions of him. Some were made by pencil and others were painted with water colors. Each of them deserved praise.

"How long have you been doing this?" Kuroko asked in a quiet voice, scaring Sakurai into thinking he was angry.

"S-Since the time in the library..." He confessed.

"Huh," Kuroko walked around the room, looking at each piece. He found himself drawn to the biggest of them all. It was a huge canvas that made him smile. It was almost as if he could feel the sand between his toes. The sun glaring down at him since there were barely any clouds to protect his vulnerable skin. The salty water made his nose tickle a little bit and the air was a nice breeze that cooled him down. "This is breath taking," he turned around to Sakurai, his smile mirroring the one he wore in the painting.

"Sorry..." Sakurai blushed as he looked down at his hands. He never noticed Kuroko move until he was right in front of him, grabbing his shaking hands and placing it on his cheek.

"There's no reason to be."

Kuroko sighed as he waited for Aomine outside of the gym. Since he didn't have any library responsibilities, he decided to go home with his two childhood friends. He sat away from the entrance to the gym and noticed someone else was waiting as well. He immediately recognized them as the captain's best friend. "Hm, he must be waiting for Imayoshi-san." Kuroko was sort of bored and forgot to bring a book for once so he sneaked closer to the male. He knew that the boy wouldn't notice his presence since normally no one did. He was able to get close enough to see that he was sketching something in his book. It was the scenery in front of them. It looked so realistic that with the right colors, would seem like a picture.

Ever since that day, he found his eyes following the boy he later learned to be Sakurai Ryou. He was so interested in him that he purposely made his presence known so the boy would notice him easier. He found himself getting closer to him until the day he noticed him sitting in the library during his duties.

'Maybe I should go talk to him,' he thought. He followed him to the bookshelf that he was reaching towards and ended up touching his hand. He didn't mean to do it, but he definitely didn't see it as something to apologize for. However, when the boy raised his voice in surprise, he found himself telling him to be quiet. He was somewhat embarrassed from it since it wasn't his intent at all.

Things continued that way for a few months and he was too excited for his own good when he suddenly called him for a study lesson. He didn't want to admit it, but he was yearning for a chance for the two of them to talk alone. He loved his friends dearly but they seriously needed to butt out of his love life. Both Aomine and Momoi realized his feelings for the brunet and wouldn't stop teasing him about it. Apparently even Imayoshi noticed his feelings.

-x-x-

After Kuroko found out about being Sakurai's muse, they sort of fell into a relationship. Since it was obvious about their feelings for each other, they never once needed to make sure the other felt the same way. Their days were continuously happy and full of love. Kuroko decided to write the stories he had been meaning to write and Sakurai continued to create works of art. They stayed together even when their names became known as they grew old. One day, the two decided to take a well needed vacation in Hawaii.

"You really need to stop apologizing for no reason Sakurai-kun," the shorter male scolded lightly.

"Sorry..." Sakurai flinched when he felt Kuroko's pointer finger on his forehead. "Sorry."

"You never learn," Kuroko shook his head and squeezed the other's hand. "Did you make a bento?"

"Yes!" Sakurai smiled, holding the two tier boxes in his other hand.

The two walked hand in hand until they reached their destination. Kuroko was the first to let go as he prepared everything for them. He sat down first and took the bentos from his boyfriend and placed it onto the blanket.

Sakurai slipped his sandals off and joined him. He opened the boxes and showed it to Kuroko, making him smile. "This one is for you," he handed him the one that mainly had brown and tookt he blue one for himself. "I don't think I can eat it though since it looks like you..."

"Hm?" Kuroko looked at him, already eating from his Sakurai styled bento after saying his prayer.

"You didn't even hesitate!" Sakurai laughed, grabbing his Kuroko one, "Thank you for the meal," he separated his chopsticks and dug in. "You taste delicious," he mumbled without thinking and then blushed.

Kuroko laughed softly and kissed his red tinted cheek, "So do you."

Sakurai leaned in and surprised Kuroko with another kiss. The two continued to deepen it until they heard the roar of the waves.

"Is it like you imagined while you painted?" Kuroko asked. They sat in the exact position in Sakurai's painting.

Sakurai smiled and shook his head, "It's even better..." He kissed Kuroko once again, "Happy tenth anniversary."

Kuroko blushed, "And many more."

-x-x-

The End.