“Tetsu…” in a deep husky voice he blurted out the two words he felt should have been pronounced ages ago “I’m sorry.”

Within his expectation, there was a complete silence, for one second, two, three-five- nine seconds. Still feeling twisted, he dared himself to raise his head upward, to the paler’s direction. What he saw brought another storm to his now fragile heart. The pale boy’s pair of eyes were widened, eyebrow formed in disbelief and tears were pooled at the corner of both of his blue eyes. His lips were snapped shut but his eyes spoke crystal clear.

Aomine seeing this, released the control of his body from his brain, allowing it to flow to his heart. No sweat was given on the consequences of the thing he would do next. The second his heart took control, his hand progressed from Kuroko’s hand to rest at the back of his head as he drew the paler in so that their lips would touch. Aomine’s eyes were naturally closed granting the other to apprehend the delicacy of the dark-skinned’s long lashes and beauty of the shape of his eyes.

The pale boy was stunned indeed, eyes were forcefully opened wide, but not disgusted. His posture was stiffening and muscles became rigid. Kuroko was unable to express the feeling of shock, better than sitting still in a 90-degree position with hands glued to the floor. The persistence of Aomine’s hand finally overpowered his will to drew away. His feelings melt together with Aomine’s and without sparing any deep thought, Kuroko followed Aomine’s guidance. They moved together in sync like it was not their first time.

Feeling the involuntary acceptance from the other, gradually the taller’s firm hand slid down to Kuroko’s jawbone and drew him even closer. Neither of them noticed the tears melt away from their burning skin and that their heart was beating so wildly they could only take little sips of breath. That moment, they shared nothing but a tender yet passionate kiss under the roof of the place that brought them together.

Kuroko was the first to drew back gently and quietly opened his eyes, the other followed. Both were panting and their cheeks glowed in pink. They gazed at each other and Aomine realized how mesmerizing Kuroko’s eyes were. Deep like the abyss yet bright like the sky.

“Have your eyes always been this blue?” he spoke in a deep and hoarse voice, with his hand now trailing the other’s fair cheek to wipe away the remaining trace of the tears.

Kuroko although flustered by the sudden statement and gesture, replied a rather straightforward answer. “Yes.”

Like a trigger to Aomine’s body, the control rushed back to his brain and only now that he was able to digest the whole thing. He swiftly removed his hand and jumped to a straight 180 degrees position. He touched his lips and direct his view unconsciously to the paler’s lips and his legs disappoint him because he was falling back to his original state on the floor.

“W-What did I just do!?” his expression was priceless, Kuroko thought. “Me-You! What are you doing!?” he pointed his finger to himself and Kuroko back and forth while still trembling. “The hell!!? Did I just-“ he touched his lips again unable to finish the unwanted sentence.

“Kissed me? Yes.”

Aomine sprinted toward Kuroko and pressed his large hand to cover the other’s lips but ended up covering more than half of his face.

“A-Are you crazy!? How can you say something like k-k- the k word so easily!??”

Aomine heard mumbles as a reply and only after a few seconds that he realized it was his hand preventing the other to express his thought.

“But that was exactly what happened.” said him unbothered by Aomine’s concern while wiping his mouth.

“B-But..still! Why do you seem so fine with it? I must be crazy. But you are crazier Tetsu you must know that.” He pointed his finger once again to the smaller’s petite face. He was dumbfounded and felt that his head were all over the place. He walked in a repeated circle that he almost orbiting the whole court. Loud mumbling and expression of frustration were heard audibly from him over and over until the pale boy cannot contained the laughter.

“I will treasure this present forever Aomine-kun” he plastered a warm smile on his face.

Kuroko’s graceful smile only managed to held him for two seconds tops. “W-What!? I didn’t give you anything!” and I beg of you to stop smiling like that!

“But you just-” His sentence was cut again with Aomine’s hand in the same position as earlier. This time his agility did not disappoint him.

“Don’t you dare to mention that again. I’m gonna kill you!”

After Kuroko seemed to give up with the struggle to get out of Aomine’s grasp, he released his held leaving the shorter slightly panting.

“Do me a favor Tetsu, please, do not mention any of this again.”

“When you are around?”

“Yes, when I’m around. Wait, what do you mean by that!? Of course when I’m not around as well!” he shouted in disbelief “Jeez Tetsu what is on your mind!? You will go down together with me as well you know when Kise and the rest know. Oh Akashi. I can practically see his face right now. He will torture me to death. Midorima also, ugh I’d rather die now.”

Kuroko let out a warm laugh and finally agreeing with the taller’s proposition “Yes. Yes. Fine. I won’t speak of this to anyone.”

Letting out a huge sigh Aomine is finally calmer now. His gaze now locked at Tetsu that was starting to walk toward the court while dribbling.

“T-Tetsu.” He rests his hand behind his head, ruffled his hair, and smiled widely “Thank you.”

At that moment, Kuroko saw a glimpse of shadow of Aomine’s former self back in Teiko when he first met him. The tough figure that relentlessly spent all nights with training, yet gentle enough to undertake all that with Kuroko despite his lack of skills. The figure that supported Kuroko when he thought of quitting basketball due to him being genuinely astonished with Kuroko’s concealed skills and believed that hard worker is bound to be useful to his team. It was agonizing indeed when Aomine isolated himself from Kuroko and the rest of the team. However, seeing that smile again, the very smile that blew a warm breeze back in the days, Kuroko felt like his wound was never even there. With the thought of that, he plastered his face with a contended smile.

“Aomine-kun, would you like to play one-on-one with me?”

Aomine cannot help but grinned widely. “Ah-Sure! I’m still gonna beat you though!”

The two of them played cheerfully though not in par, like reenacting the play from the past where both spent most of their time together practicing every night. The game felt like in an eternal lap and their body gradually gave up on them. Both are panting heavily, knees bent in half and they exchanged one last grin before finally fell into a deep sleep on the gym’s floor. Like the night sky and the star, the shadow has fueled the light to glow even brighter.

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Okay so this crappy chapter ends my crappy drabble. I honestly loved their interaction here but I'm the author so I might be biased.LOL. But I'm thinking to add a sort of stupid epilogue. Will upload it soon when I have the luxury of time! Hope you enjoyed my first Kuroko's story! Thank you so much for reading!