Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke and its characters belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi. Sadly, or they would all be locked up in my closet right about now.

© Image used: すす on pixiv.

A/N: eh, my second kurobas fic. I don't think it's as good as I had planned out in my head, but I might as well publish it here anyway. don't worry, no big confusion with the pairing here. slight kagakuro fluff.

as I got a complaint for putting up short chapters into 7 parts, I might as well explain it here- from my aokise fic; it took me almost a week to write the whole thing because my brain never functions properly (l o l) so I wrote a bit a day. then I couldn't be bothered putting all the documents together into one chapter, okay. yeah. hence, I put up the whole thing at the same time. hope that clears that up. or makes people dislike me for being lazy- sue me. orz

...hoping this one isn't too rushed- constructive criticism and all that is welcome, as usual~

P.S. the horizontal line is going to hate me by the end of this. just saying.

Kagami Taiga isn't usually all that busy on a Friday afternoon. Tired more than anything else, really. So what better way to spend a Friday afternoon than lazing around on the couch and flicking through pointless TV channels that are of no interest to him?

Their coach had come down with the flu, but that didn't stop the team from giving up their afternoon practices. Kagami joined in, obviously, but a threatening message from Aida Riko herself instructed him that he should take today off and rest as he's been putting too much strain on his legs lately.

I don't even want to know how she knew when she wasn't even there.

Suddenly, Kagami grew over-conscious of his surroundings.

Until the sound of the doorbell caught his attention.

Opening it, he "tsk"d at whoever decided to pull such a prank on him, and went to close the door—

"Kagami-kun. Please wait."

—and almost became a victim of cardiac arrest.

"Jeez, Kuroko!" He still manages to do that—!

"Kagami-kun, do not move."

At the sudden words, he stared at Kuroko. "Why? What're you—"

"…No. Maybe you should move. No, please bend lower down."

Kagami obviously didn't catch that, because it was just out of nowhere so Kuroko forcibly grabbed him by the shoulders and leveled his face in front of his own.

"Better."

"Oi, wait a minute. What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like? I am going to kiss you."

Kagami was dumbfounded.

"What—Why—K-Kuroko, what the hell?!"

"Kagami-kun! I told you, it is highly crucial that you do not move. Please calm down."

"Calm down?! You just said you're going to k—"

Kiss.

Kagami collapsed. Kuroko dusted off his hands.

"Thank you."

And left.

The next morning, Kagami was wondering why he wasn't the one lying in a hospital bed like his coach was.

And then he thought it might be because the only symptom of sickness he appeared to be showing was a very, very high temperature—Which, he concluded, was not the cause of some sort of a sickness at all.

It was because Kuroko kissed him.

He took a moment to register this little piece of information in his head, before he passed out again.

Meanwhile, Kuroko casually made his way for the Taiga residence once again.

Kagami had soon recovered enough to open the door and let the smaller teen in so he could explain himself.

"You see, Kagami-kun," Kuroko started, completely ignoring the repulsive expressions the redhead was pulling. "I met a group of rather…excited girls after school yesterday. They invited me to a game of—Ah, as far as I can recall, it was 'truth or dare'."

You could say Kagami was conserving energy so he could explode just at the right time.

"…Of course, it was a game, and I could not disobey the rules. That would be unfair." He shook his head. Kagami visibly facepalmed.

"So, they dared me to—"

"I-Idiot! Why would you even agree to a game like that?! Do you know how scary girls can be?! I guess you don't…"

"—kiss Kagami-kun—"

"…you don't have to say it again. It sounds worse each time—"

"—every morning, and every night."

Before Kagami could recollect what had just been said, lips as light as a feather and as soft as cotton candy were suddenly placed upon his own, before being swooped away all too quickly, like the wind.

This feels familiar.

"…Kagami-kun… Kagami-kun? Can you please stop that. It is worrying me."

And so Kuroko continued repeatedly poking an unconscious Kagami's side, in hopes that it would cause him to wake up again.

But of course, when it didn't, he splashed ice-cold water straight down his shirt.

Kagami screeched and chased Kuroko all the way out of his house, for more reasons than one.

Kagami was giving himself a headache trying to figure out how Kuroko's presence got so bad as to kiss him without him even noticing it. Until seconds later, of course.

More importantly, he was trying to figure out how Kuroko could kiss like that. Unless he'd been taking private lessons outside school, or something—But that thought alone made Kagami snort; that's not like Kuroko at all.

Then it surprised him that he was spending more time analyzing the delicate texture of the bluenette's lips and the sweetness they left as an aftertaste, rather than the fact that he just got kissed by him, again.

Right—And what was that last bit?

"—every morning, and every night."

Kagami literally sprung off his couch and looked out the window. It was getting dark.

"Oh, hell no."

Honestly, the raging hormonal sixteen-year-old really needed to calm down. It was only Kuroko and there was nothing to get so worked up about.

But, as for Kagami Taiga, that could've possibly been the problem. It was Kuroko.

Alex was close with Kagami too, and she, needless to say, had kissed him on several unfortunate occasions. Surprising him, of course, but not to the point where his skin would pale and he would curl into fetal position. Never.

So what was it that made Kuroko's kisses so special to him, that they had that kind of an effect on him? An effect he couldn't tell was either good or bad.

He'd wake up wanting to hurl, but somewhat preferred it if the taste which had invaded his mouth stayed there as if it was part of his own—

Kagami made a noise of discomfort, as if something unsettling was twisting and turning in the pit of his stomach.

He decided it might be hunger. And not wanting to over-think it (because he was already crossing boundaries he shouldn't—), he grabbed his jacket and was out the door in an instant.

By the time he bought his little fast-food meal and was making his way back home, the whole over-thinking and crossing boundaries process didn't go all too well.

"I can't believe he actually did it~!"

"He didn't even stop and—Hey, do you think—?"

"Kyaa! Don't jump to conclusions! That's too much~"

One of the three girls, with her back to an extremely confused Kagami, started fanning her face with one hand, appearing to be flustered over something he couldn't quite pick out. Scary, he reminded himself.

"But really, that boy was something—I haven't seen him around ever since, though—"

"Could it be that he hasn't stopped? Even though we told him the dare was only for a day… Oh, oh, oh—"

"Nooooo! Don't put those images in my head! Ahh…"

"He was pretty cute, though, wasn't he?"

"Mmm~ Boys can be so fascinating~"

The conversation went on and on, but Kagami had heard enough.

He had to make it back to his house before Kuroko did.

"Oh—Someone forgot their lunch, look—"

"Eh? Maybe it was that guy who just ran off screaming about something."

The girl pointed at a cloud of dust; where Kagami should've been.

"Weirdo."

Kagami shut the door behind him, gasping for air. The absence of his meal was long forgotten about. It wasn't important right now.

And as much as he tried to catch his breath, it hitched in his throat, and made his skin change colour to a deep crimson; darker than the colour of his hair.

"If the dare was only for a day, why has Kuroko been—?"

What the fuck does he think he's doing.

The whole night, Kagami awaited Kuroko's visit. Kuroko should have stopped kissing him after yesterday, but he did the same thing this very morning, and, according to his words, he was going to come back at night.

The whole thing seemed like a horror movie playing out in his head.

Midnight.

Kagami decided that he was just overreacting and why was he overreacting and why was he even expecting Kuroko to show up instead of doing something about it and stopping him—so he went to bed.

That didn't last long, though, when Kuroko burst through the door, sweaty and breathless.

"H-How did you get in my—?!"

"I apologize for the delay, Kagami-kun," Kuroko just managed to reply between short breaths. He hurriedly sat on the bed, next to where Kagami was also up in a sitting position at this point. He had no idea what to think.

Is he really this desperate…?

Kuroko scooted closer to where the other was. Kagami remained frozen.

It was so quiet, and both of them were breathing so heavily.

So just when he moved—

"Kuroko," Kagami stopped him, barely able to make out the silhouette of his friend. "Kiss me."

At the command, Kuroko whispered a small "yes", before that all too familiar feeling was back, closing the distance between them, crawling all over his skin, pulling at his heartstrings. It was enough, it was enough of a realization for Kagami to open his eyes and—

—and he was gone, just like that. Somewhere in the darkness covering Kagami's room during the night, Kuroko became part of it, like the shadow he was.

Then he realized—He didn't need to see it to feel it.

It was Day One for Kagami when he woke up, with the usual panicking and string of curses thrown and bounced off the walls. He could almost see Kuroko rubbing his shoulders and telling him to calm down when he made a scene like that—

Right, what was he doing after Kuroko was done kissing him last night, and disappeared? Something had dawned on him, he thought back, and it was that something that made Kagami want Kuroko to kiss him again, and maybe just a little bit more—if he let him.

It was morning, though, so he should be expecting him to do it anytime soon.

And that was confirmed when he opened the door to see the same old blank, expressionless, porcelain face staring right at him.

"Kagami-kun, I—"

"I know."

Kuroko stood on his tiptoes, resting his smaller hands on Kagami's broader shoulders as support. He tilted his head upwards, and—

And he was suddenly lifted off his feet, with a tight embrace around his waist.

"I know everything," were the husky words that left Kagami's lips—just when their gazes locked; flaming red and tranquil blue—before they met with Kuroko's.

After a moment longer than he had in mind, he let Kuroko go, and the teen was back on his feet again. Barely, as his knees almost gave in.

Then he dashed out the door, puffs of smoke literally shooting out through his ears, with his beet-red face shoved in his hands.

While Kagami ran his thumb along his lower lip, rather pleased with himself.

If this was what Kuroko wanted, he could so get used to it.

Neither of them regretted it in the end, after all.