Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/4353611. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: M/M Fandom: Kuroko_no_Basuke_|_Kuroko's_Basketball Relationship: Haizaki_Shougo/Kuroko_Tetsuya, Akashi_Seijuurou/Kuroko_Tetsuya, Aomine Daiki/Kuroko_Tetsuya, Akashi_Seijuro/_Haizaki_Shougo Character: Haizaki_Shougo, Kuroko_Tetsuya, Akashi_Seijuurou, Aomine_Daiki, Kise Ryouta, Nijimura_Shuuzou Additional Tags: First_Kiss, Kissing, Blow_Jobs, Anal_Sex, Anal_Fingering, First_Time, Awkward_Kissing, Rape, haizaki_is_nice_for_once, Depression, Angst, Psychological_Torture, Attempted_Rape/Non-Con, Hurt/Comfort, Swearing, Fist_Fights, haizaki_has_a_soft_spot, Aomine_is_a_dick, Akashi_is possessive, middle_school_life, Teikou_Era, What_I_wished_happened, things_get_crazy, kuroko_is_kinda_stupid, Eating_Disorders, Lack_of Sleep, eventually_shit_will_hit_the_fan, not_just_once_either, remember yamato, Basketball, Fluff_and_Angst, fluff_and_eventual_smut, Fluff_and Smut, Fluff, Attempted_Kidnapping, Breaking_and_Entering, Stalking, Paranoid_Tetsuya, Paranoid_Haizaki, slight_Akashi_x_Haizaki, Underground, Gangs, slight_gore, Gore, Flashbacks, past_trauma, blocked_out_memories Stats: Published: 2015-07-16 Updated: 2015-11-06 Chapters: 11/? Words: 32706 ****** Yours In Fractions ****** by AnimeGoddessOnPoint Summary Kuroko Tetsuya falls into depression as his team falls apart. Feeling alone and having no one else to turn to, he decides to befriend Haizaki Shougo. (Discontinuing for now. Revising at a later date. Huge changes will be made.) ***** Chapter 1 ***** Chapter 1 “Fuck! That hurts Kuroko!”, Haizaki hissed as the smaller bluenette gave him a displeased look while he tried to put rubbing alcohol on a cut above the male’s eyebrow. “You have no one to blame but yourself, Haizaki-kun. If you would stop picking fights then this wouldn’t be happening.”, Tetsuya said as he purposely pushed on the band-aid over the taller male’s wound with more pressure than necessary, making the basketball player jump a little. “Why are you always treating me like I’m a baby that needs looking after? I can take care of myself! I don’t need you helping me all the time!”, the ash-haired teen complained as he looked down at the shadow who was busy bandaging his banged up knee. When the ash-haired teen received no answer he simply turned and looked out the window. The schoolyard was quiet and calm as Haizaki busied himself with staring down at a couple who were holding hands and being sickly affectionate. The taller teen scoffed as Kuroko ignored the disgusted sound and continued to inspect Shougo’s cuts and bruises. The smaller teen frowned as he saw the extent of the damage, it probably hurt way more than the headstrong male was letting on. He had won, but not without sacrifice. “They really beat you up this time Haizaki-kun… you really shouldn’t fight all the time.”, the shadow said mostly to himself, causing the taller teen to look over at him with a questioning look. “Why do you care so much? I’m an asshole. I’m a dick to you just as much as I’m a dick to everyone else. You really shouldn’t waste your time hanging around someone like me.”, Haizaki said trying to deter the smaller from trying to get too close. The ash-haired teen knew he destroyed everything he came into contact with. No matter how hard he tried, he always fucked up. He’s turned innocent girls into empty shells of what they once were, beaten people within inches of death, lied, stole, and cheated. He knew that at some point he was bound to do something that would hurt Kuroko too. He didn’t want that. The bluenette was different. He was pure; untainted by the world and it’s troubles. Tetsuya saw the good in everyone and tried to pull the deepest part of their hidden selves into the open again. Kuroko was caring, kind, and never judged. He was accepting of everyone, no matter what they have done in their past. What mattered most to the smaller was who you were now and what you wanted to be. Shougo cringed at the thought of being the one to ruin that trust and compassion. “Because if I don’t care then who will, Haizaki-kun? You aren’t not that bad when it is just you and me, so I can tolerate you.”, Kuroko said with a smile as amusement played in his eyes. That smile. Haizaki was sure he was the only one to have seen it in a long while. Around the Generations, Tetsu looked more hollow and emotionless than usual. His eyes seemed empty, dead, and unseeing. Distant. It was like he could barely even get through the practices anymore as he watched the team drift further and further apart. Seeing his friends change into something else entirely, was obviously taking it’s toll on the shadow. The ash-haired teen noticed that the younger teen was more subdued lately, how tired and depressed he seemed when he dragged himself to school day after day. But weirdly when Kuroko was with him, away from the other four, he was more at ease. With Shougo, the bluenette was able to forget his troubles, just for a little while. Haizaki, in Tetsu’s eyes, was different than everyone else on the team. A prickly individual on the outside, but on the inside he was pretty decent even though most couldn’t see it. Lately, the small teen seemed to be spending more and more time with the ash- haired teen and when he wasn’t busy tending to the taller teen’s wounds from his daily brawls, he was locked in his room for hours on end. During school Tetsuya didn’t talk to anyone and went out of his way to avoid bumping into his teammates outside of practice. And sometimes the shadow didn’t go to practice at all, opting to stay alone in his bedroom with his thoughts. Haizaki had noticed the bags that had began to form under the smaller’s eyes from lack of sleep and his beautiful features beginning to sink in from weight loss. The generations were slowly beginning to tear him apart, but still Kuroko refused to hate them. They were tainting him. His carefree self was slowly dying away and his team members are so self-centered that they don’t see how they’ve been hurting him. With no other friends to turn to, Testu had found refuge in someone who was probably the worst of the bunch. Haizaki was torn. He couldn’t push him away, but he couldn’t keep him too close. No matter what he did he’d hurt Tetsuya and possibly that would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. At loss of what to do, the ash-haired teen decided to use the straightforward approach. “Kuroko, I know you’re only hanging around me because the rest of those stuck- up pricks don’t give a shit about their “favorite” teammate anymore, so why lie and say that you actually give a damn about me and what I do?”, Haizaki hissed as the smaller teen accidentally jabbed one of the bruises on his ribs hard at the accusation. Shougo immediately regretting saying anything as he saw the life drain from the shadow’s eyes a little. “…I’m not lying Haizaki-kun, you’re really not as bad as you think. You just seemed so lonely after you quit basketball, so I thought I’d give you some company. Don’t you ever get sad because no one takes the time to care about you? ”, Kuroko said lowly as he moved his attention to a cut on Haizaki’s upper lip. Those eyes. They were distant again, like his mind wasn’t completely in the present. It made the taller teen angry, it made him sour. Was the bluenette so desperate for companionship, that he was trying to justify hanging out with someone like him? Haizaki was no good and he knew that. He’d tear apart what was left of the shadow and he’d probably do it without ever meaning to so in the first place.The ash-haired teen’s thoughts stopped in their tracks as he saw one of Tetsuya’s tiny hands reach out and trace around the swollen wound on his lip. “Does it hurt?”, Kuroko asked as his brows slightly furrowed with worry. Haizaki wanted to just slap his hand away and tell him he should be more worried about his own hurt, but refrained from doing so. It irked him that the smaller boy cared more about others than himself. “No, not really.”, the ash-haired teen replied as he moved his head back a little to signal to Kuroko to let it be. Pulling away, the smaller teen fell silent as he looked at the evening sun drown the schoolyard in a brilliant gold. His mind was obviously elsewhere as he let himself drift away into emptiness once again. Haizaki sat on his side of the nurse room bed as he watched the sun reflect off Tetsuya’s eyes, making them appear to be a grey-steel instead of a sky blue. It was a comfortable silence and the taller of the two was just as content staring at Kuroko as the smaller was looking out the window. “Haizaki, have you ever truly loved anyone you’ve dated?”, Tetsuya asked catching the older off guard. Haizaki didn’t see any reason to lie so he told Tetsu the truth, though he wasn’t proud of it. “No, I’ve never loved anyone I’ve dated. I use them to get what I want, nothing more and nothing less.” “Oh”, was all that the smaller said as he dropped his chin onto his knees and stared down at his feet. Kuroko looked so lost. So hopeless and fragile, like he was going to fall apart any second and Shougo knew full well why. Aomine had turned his back on the shadow and now would hardly even look at him anymore. Just like that the relationship that they had shared was shattered. And what was worse, was that Kuroko had fallen for him and fallen for him hard. He was heartbroken and Haizaki had seen girls like this enough times to know what road the teen was walking down. “You’re obviously hurt, so stop pretending that you aren’t. It’s bad to hold things in like that..”, Shougo said trying to make it sound like he didn’t care. Tetsuya only responded by pulling his knees closer to him and burying his face into his legs. The shadow didn’t feel the need to hide things from Haizaki, didn’t feel the need to pretend around him anymore. Though he was completely silent, the ash-haired teen could tell the younger was crying. A weird feeling bubbled up inside of him as he saw the most vulnerable side of Kuroko. It was oddly unsettling to see the usually impassive teen express such a strong emotion, so unsettling that he actually felt the need to make it stop. A first for Shougo. Hesitantly, like he was about to touch glass, Haizaki reached out to touch the smaller teen and offer some sort of comfort. He paused for a moment, for this was a new and foreign thing for the older and he began to wonder if he should actually be doing something like this at all, before the shadow decided for him and pushed his face into the older’s chest. As he sobbed, Tetsuya grasped tightly onto Shougo’s shirt as if insuring that he wouldn’t get up and walk away from him. Though he was extremely uncomfortable with the physical contact, the ash-haired teen didn’t retaliate as he let Kuroko practically cling onto him for dear life. It was a weird and awkward thing for Haizaki. The taller male was never this intimate with anybody, would never even dream of it nonetheless. This wasn’t his true nature at all and his mind screamed at him to pull away, to not let the smaller get too close, to turn-tail and run away like the million times he’d done before. But Kuroko was different somehow and the amount of dependency the teen had for Haizaki wouldn’t let him. For some reason, the older couldn’t bring himself to just leave Tetsuya alone to his own problems like he’d done to countless girls before. This had to be a sin. The most tolerant of them all had been broken and it was Aomine himself who had drove the point home. The one who held the team together by a thread had finally cracked from the stress and pain the others had caused him. Haizaki knew that the all seeing Akashi knew what had been happening to Tetsuya just as he had known, but chose not to reach out and help the bluenette when he was drowning. It was unforgivable. Turning the other cheek and ignoring the smaller teen’s silent cries for help is something that shouldn’t even be humanly possible for people who used to be so close to him. With a heavy sigh, Shougo let his body relax into the wall behind him as he looked out the window and saw a familiar dark blue-haired individual skip practice for the fifth time this week. Haizaki gave an annoyed snort at being practically kicked off the team when Daiki was doing the same exact thing that he used to. It didn’t matter anymore anyway, the ash-haired male no longer wanted to be apart of such a corrupted team. No longer wanted to be controlled by a midget with a napoleon complex. Why Tetsuya even bothered to be apart of the team anymore was beyond him, but he wouldn’t be the one to try and convince him to quit. ***** Chapter 2 ***** Chapter 2 Haizaki laid in his bed next to a girl whose name he wouldn’t remember while staring up at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep for some weird reason and it had to do with his ‘something is wrong’ senses going berserk in his head. It was probably that something was up with Tetsuya, since he had gotten pretty acute to sensing when the smaller teen was distressed. Shougo sighed as he picked up a pillow and smashed it down over his head to make his body shut up and just go to sleep. He knew that Kuroko wasn’t his problem, that he didn’t even have to worry himself with the depressed shadow, but his instincts wouldn’t let him just leave him all alone. Haizaki didn’t understand why. His instincts never stopped him once when he left countless girls broken and down-under, so why did it start now? It had been a week since Kuroko had cried himself out while holding onto him for dear life and things had gone downhill from then. As things got worse, the smaller teen’s depression got worse and as the teen’s depression got worse, the more he clung to Haizaki. Tetsuya was eating close to nothing, stayed home more often than not, and obviously was not sleeping enough. It got so bad that Shougo actually began to get worried that the shadow would die if he didn’t go out of his way everyday, three times a day, to buy the bluenette a vanilla milkshake. Haizaki knew full well that Kuroko wasn’t going eat anything all day if he didn’t. Since the blunette’s parents were always off on business trips, the ash-haired teen brought dinner straight over to Tetsuya’s and didn’t leave until he was sure the smaller was in bed and asleep. The thing that really nagged at Shougo was that the teen wouldn’t leave home unless it was for school or practice. Even when Haizaki himself would ask Kuroko if he wanted to go down to the market just three blocks away, the would the shadow would always politely refuse. It made the taller teen extremely antsy leaving the bluenette alone for long periods of time, convinced that if he let Kuroko sit alone long enough, he’d commit suicide or decide to run away or something, so the walk down to market was always a stressful one. Today in particular he was overly anxious because he had failed to bring Tetsuya his milkshake dinner and make sure he actually went to bed, choosing to get it on with a girl instead. As the minutes ticked by, the more restless he got. His mind filled with all the awful things that could have happened in his absence. Shougo began to break out into a cold sweat as he realized that if Kuroko killed himself right now he’d partially be at fault for not being there to stop him. That was the last straw for the ash-haired teen. The very last thing he needed was having the whole of the Generation of Miracles after him for letting the shadow kill himself while he was busy getting some. Pulling the covers off of himself, Haizaki quickly grabbed his discarded clothes and hurriedly put them on. Waking the girl beside him in his haste to get going. As he scrambled into his jeans, the unknown beauty lying in the now empty bed moaned, then opened her eyes tiredly. “Where are you going Shou-kun?”, the girl asked as she sat up, the blankets falling to expose her naked body. “I told you not to call me that and it’s none of your business. I have something to take care of, that’s all.”, Haizaki replied gruffly as he grabbed his shoes and began to slip them on while moving to sit back on the bed. The girl sighed and wrapped her arms around the taller male’s shoulders and pushed her face into his neck while he completely ignored her. “Why don’t you trust me more? I mean we just made love to each other, so that should mean something. I think you should appreciate me mo-” , “Look I really don’t give a shit what you think and I didn’t make love to you either. You are just some sleaze I convinced to bang me. I don’t even remember your name.”, Shougo said as he pushed her off of him and stood up to grab his wallet. “It’s Ayano! I thought you said that I was the beautiful thing you had ever laid your eyes on! Why are you being like this? I love you, don’t you get it?!?”, The girl said as she stood up to stop him in his tracks. There was silence as Haizaki counted up his change and slipped his wallet into his back pocket. He hadn’t even really listened to a word she’d said and didn’t care for that matter. “You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen at that moment. I can count off a dozen girls that are way hotter than you will ever be. Just save your breath about your little crush too and be gone by the time I get back.”, Haizaki said casually as he walked out of the room and to the front door. As he stepped out into the cold air he could hear that the woman was crying, but it didn’t affect him in any way whatsoever. Maji burgers wasn’t far from his apartment and was open 24 hours, so he quickly made his way over to get the usual as his restlessness grew tenfold. He walked into the restaurant and stood in line to get a vanilla shake while looking out the window and shifting from side to side. He was now thinking that he’d surely walk into Tetsuya’s place to see him all bloodied and hurt in some horrible way. What if somebody broke into his house and the smaller teen was too out of it to even think of hiding? What if he decided to jump out of his window, broke his legs, and couldn’t get up off the ground to call for help? He was so fucked if anyone found out that he was the last person in contact with him before his demise. The older teen was so out of it, that he didn’t realize it was his turn to order. “Ummm…, can I help you sir?”, a pretty woman asked as she looked at him expectantly. Shougo quickly snapped out of his musings and looked the girl up and down before strolling up with a smirk on his face. “Actually…, yeah, yeah you can.”, he said with his eyebrow quirked, before he caught himself and dropped the act. “Okaayy then, what can I do you for you sir?”, the girl asked as she readied herself to write down the order. Haizaki had difficulty swallowing the pick-up line that came so naturally to his lips. He didn’t even want to hit on her, the words just came to him out of habit. “Can I just get a vanilla shake?”, the teen asked as he looked up at the menu and thought he should get Tetsu something a little more filling to go along with it. “Actually can you add in a number 2 with that?” “Of course, anything else for you then?” “No, that’s all I need.” - Haizaki walked up to Kuroko’s doorstep and knocked as he waited anxiously for the door to open. After a few seconds he knocked again, fear rising in his chest at hearing nothing on the other side of the door. ‘Did something really happen to him?’, the teen asked himself as he waited thirty seconds more. The male went to knock again when the door finally opened and empty looking eyes stared up at him. Haizaki frowned at the look and saw those blue eyes flicker with life as the smaller teen registered that it was him. “Haizaki-kun, I thought you weren’t coming.”, Kuroko said as he walked back into the house as Shougo followed with a guilty feeling bubbling in his stomach. “I was just a little late, sheesh.”, Haizaki replied as he slipped off his shoes and shut the door behind him. “By eight hours?”, Tetsuya asked without a hint of accusation in his voice. Haizaki didn’t respond. He knew that the smaller teen had probably put two and two together and probably still wasn’t going to get mad at him. It made him feel even worse that Kuroko expected this out of him and accepted the fact that the older was probably with a girl. “It doesn’t really matter to me. You don’t have to explain yourself either. You’re here now, right?”, Tetsuya asked as he went up on his tippy-toes to take a sip out of the shake in the taller teen’s hands. “Oh yeah… this is for you. And this.”, Shougo said as he handed the milkshake off to the smaller teen along with the burger and fries he’d also ordered. “Thank you, Haizaki-kun.”, Kuroko said with a small, almost forced smile as he walked to the dinner table. The taller teen followed silently as he studied the smaller teen. He knew he should have walked with him home, since he could already tell that something huge happened in his absence. Haizaki made a mental note to ask later, after Tetsu finished eating so he wouldn’t spoil what appetite he had left. The grey- haired teen sighed as he pulled out a chair and sat across from the shadow, all the while watching as the bluenette pulled his meal out of the crinkled paper bag. The smaller teen made a face as he opened the wrapper around the burger and saw how greasy it was. “Eat it. You’re losing too much weight and at the rate you’re going at, you’re gonna suck at basketball even more than you already do.”, Haizaki said as if he didn’t really care. He looked at the teen to find that his eyes had become distant again at the mention of basketball. Shougo wanted to slap himself for being so stupid, now he probably wasted Kuroko’s chance of eating and his money. He was pleasantly shocked ,though , when the smaller teen picked up the burger and took a small bite anyway. Knowing that the teen would never get around to it, Haizaki began to absentmindedly shovel the french fries that came with the meal into his mouth. It was a pleasant silence as Kuroko busied himself with trying to down his burger and Shougo busied himself with watching him do so. After Tetsuya got about halfway done with the sandwich, he pushed it away and went back to his shake. “I can’t eat anymore. You can have it.”, he stated as he sipped away at the milkshake in his hand. “But you can still drink that?”, the grey-haired teen asked as he quirked a brow and gave the smaller teen an unimpressed look. “There’s always room for dessert, Haizaki-kun.”, Kuroko replied as amusement danced in his eyes. Shougo sighed heavily and wrapped the burger back into it’s wrapper. “I’ll put it in the fridge so you can eat it later. I spent the rest of my cash on this so I’m not gonna let you waste it.”, He said trying to feign annoyance as he got up to put the food in the icebox. As he walked back, Haizaki noticed the time and just how late it really was. “Tetsuya you should go to bed. It’s late as hell and we have school tomorrow.”, the grey-haired teen said as he watched the shadow shake his drink to see if there was anything left, only to frown when he realized the content of the cup was gone. “Okay.”, Kuroko responded as he got up and threw his cup into the bag and threw them both away before walking to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Shougo turned out the lights and walked to the bathroom as he yawned and scratched his stomach. He turned the corner into the hallway and leaned into the door frame as he watched Tetsu brush his teeth. As usual, the older shadowed as he watched the smaller go through his nightly routine. Silently observing as Kuroko went through the same motions he did every night, until he finally went to his room. Haizaki yawned again and sat down in a chair next to the door as the smaller slowly crawled into bed. “Haizaki-kun.” Shougo looked over to find that Tetsuya was against the wall, making room for him to come sleep too. He was hesitant for a minute, but eventually gave in due to his drowsy state and plopped into the bed beside the shadow. The smaller teen kept his distance as he pulled the covers up to his chin and let out a cute little yawn of his own. “You didn’t have to come Haizaki-kun. You were busy, weren’t you?”, Kuroko asked, making the guilt sink back into the older male beside him. “I couldn’t sleep.” The teen was silent for a moment before he shrunk down into a ball and let his eyes reflect his true feelings. “ Aomine-kun is getting worse and Akashi-kun and the others are beginning to act weird now too. Everything is falling apart and I can’t fix it.”, the smaller teen said as his voice wavered a little bit as his emotions began to get the better him. “You’re tired Tetsuya, just go to sleep. It’s not your problem, so don’t concern yourself with it.”, Haizaki said as his best offer at comfort. “I…I was thinking of quitting basketball...”, the bluenette admitted as he shrunk down further and awaited an outburst only to be met with a strange calm. “You wouldn’t do that. You like basketball way too much to really go through with it. After how hard you worked to get in the first string, you wouldn’t dare. If you want to take a break, then just ask the coach for some time off. He’d understand.”, Haizaki sighed as he pushed his body into the smaller slightly so that their shoulders were barely touching as a way of showing that he cared in a not-so-obvious way. “You’re right. I wouldn’t, but I don’t know if I can keep doing this Haizaki- kun. I don’t have any friends left and I feel like I’m all alone.”, Tetsuya said as the tears finally fell from his eyes. The older teen couldn’t fucking stand it when Tetsu cried. Haizaki just wanted to make it stop as fast as it would start. It affected him too much to just let it be. Without really thinking the taller male grasped Kuroko's chin and forced him to look the older straight in the eye. “Stop it. Just stop fucking crying! Christ, Tetsuya, I’m here now, right?!?”, Shougo asked, irritated that the smaller affected him this much as he let the teen’s face go after his outburst. Tears rolled down the younger teen’s face even faster as he nodded and buried his face into the older’s chest. “O-Oi! Stop touching me and stop crying, dammit!!!” “I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.” “Tetsuya! Seriously, stop!! You’re getting tears and snot in my shirt!” ***** Chapter 3 ***** Chapter 3 Kuroko sighed as he shut his locker door, all the while blocking out the noise of his “teammates”. He honestly didn’t know much more he could take of this, but he did know that it wasn’t a lot. Shutting his eyes, the bluenette let his head fall forward onto the cold metal with a very audible thud, unknowingly making heads turn in his direction. Tetsuya felt so numb, so unattached from everyone else. No one needed him anymore. Everyone was slowly leaving him behind and no one seemed to care. Kuroko felt that he couldn’t even call himself a member of this team anymore, for he had truly become the phantom sixth man whom no one would ever regard with any significance. Tetsuya stood where he was for another few seconds as the worried voices of the taller teens droned on in the background. It was all white noise to him now and he couldn’t tell what it was that they were saying, all he knew was that their voices held only slight concern. Not wanting to listen to them anymore, Kuroko pulled his head away from the locker door, picked up his bag, and left leaving the vaguely recognizable voices behind as they called out to him. It was a mistake coming here. The bluenette felt sick and subdued whenever he stepped foot on the court. Just watching the others play was enough to make his emotions reel. The shadow barely made it out of the school hallway when he nearly bumped into a broad chest. Turning his eyes upwards, the shadow found a cold and icy gaze looking down at him. It was truly strange to Kuroko that eyes that once held so much happiness could turn so hard. “You’re blocking the door, Aomine-kun.”, the small teen said in a voice void of all emotion as to not give anything away. The dark-skinned ace was taken aback for a moment at the dismissive attitude that the bluenette had taken on, but quickly regained his demeanor. “I need to talk to you. ”, Daiki said as the smaller teen simply walked around him and out the double-doors, ignoring him. Kuroko thought his obvious shutdown would be enough to make Aomine realize that he didn’t have anything to say to him, but the taller didn’t back down as he fell into step with him. The shadow felt slight irritation bubble up inside of him, he’d rather throw himself off a bridge rather than listen to anything Daiki had to say to him. Despite of his true feelings, Tetsuya couldn’t bring himself to tell the other to go away. After all this is what he’d been craving right? He didn’t want to feel alone anymore, right? The smaller teen kept reminding himself of that over and over, but somehow he wasn’t happy like he thought he would be. All he felt was extreme sadness washing over him like a tidal wave. Nothing would ever be the same, the old days where everyone was happy are ancient history and Aomine was a walking reminder. Tetsuya couldn’t get that day he and Daiki had been alone in the rain out of his head. Hell he even dreamed of it, the scenario playing in his head over and over in a continuous loop. “Hah, what part of it do you understand? Tell me! How could someone who can’t do anything by himself understand this?” Tetsuya flinched at those words even now as he was walking beside the very person who had said those things to him. The very person he was trying to avoid was standing right next to him. He felt like he was being torn to shreds. “And who are those passes for? You realize I can win against anyone by myself now, without your passes?” It was all coming back to him in large doses. It was hard for the teen to breathe, let alone walk straight at this point. His emotions were becoming raw, overwhelming him. He wanted nothing more than to be let alone, but the taller showed no signs of leaving. Aomine saw the glazed over look in his ex-shadow’s eyes and frowned. Daiki may be self-centered, but he wasn’t blind. He’d noticed how the smaller was losing weight, noticed how lifeless his eyes seemed nowadays, and most of all he’d noticed how Tetsuya did everything in his power to avoid him. Around the time he’d begun to realize the huge change in Kuroko, he’d heard many rumors arising about the bluenette and a certain grey-haired troublemaker. If he hadn’t have heard any of those he probably would have let the smaller be alone in his misery, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t stand the thought of having Haizaki steal something that once belonged to him. “Oi, Tetsu…are you really hanging around that Haizaki bastard?”, Daiki asked accusingly as the bluenette stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening considerably. When the taller male received no answer from the smaller, his rage boiled up to a scalding temperature. He knew that he should just let it go, just walk away and let Tetsu do as he pleased, but knowing that he had been replaced bothered him to the point where he couldn’t just ignore it anymore. “Oh, so you’re just going to ignore me then? I know all about it already, so you might as well come clean.”, Aomine growled as Kuroko simply lowered his gaze to the ground. Daiki knew he should have stopped here, because what came next was something he would forever regret doing. His own selfish pride was blinding him from any possible reason and his rage at being outdone by Shougo was beginning to affect his ability to think straight. “So how are you liking being his new little sex toy now? I didn’t know you were prone to sleeping around with trash losers, Tetsu. How’s it feel to know you’re just being used?”, Aomine hissed venomously as he loomed above the smaller. There was a moment of silence as Tetsuya stood rigid, giving the ace satisfaction at knowing he’d struck a cord inside the usually passive bluenette. Instead of just walking away, like Daiki thought he would, Kuroko let his anger spill over as he glared up at the taller with a look that could kill. “We’re not like that and what does it matter to you anyway? You shouldn’t go around accusing people of things if you don’t have your facts straight.”, the shadow said lowly as he looked up at the taller unwaveringly. The dark-skinned teen’s jaw clenched tightly. In a flash Daiki shoved the phantom into a nearby wall, making the smaller make a small cry as he forcefully hit solid brick. This last burst of defiance was enough to send him over the edge and thinking that the rumors were true after all. “If you aren’t like that why are you getting all defensive, huh?! What is he to you anyway?!?”, Aomine yelled as he pulled Tetsuya up by the front of his shirt, so his face was level with his own. Again he didn’t get an answer, making him even more pissed off as the smaller looked at him doe-eyed and scared. “What? What is he to you?!”, the ace asked again as he shook Kuroko’s small body as if to shake the answer out of him. For a long moment Tetsu was still and silent as he took the abuse in stride, but only because he was too choked up to say anything right then. “Why?” The taller male froze at the broken sounding voice that came out of his teammate, his senses returning to him. “Why are you attacking me out of nowhere like this? Why do you care what kind of relationship I have with Haizaki-kun?!?”, Tetsuya nearly yelled as he looked up at Daiki with tear-filled eyes and tried desperately to push him away. More out of shock than anything else, Aomine quickly dropped the smaller. As guilt punched him in the gut. “Can’t you see that you’ve done enough? ... Do you really want to ruin the last good thing I have left, Aomine-kun?...”, The bluenette said in a wavering voice as tears continued to fall in a steady stream. “O-oi, Tetsu…”, Daiki began as he tried to comfort the smaller teen. “If I want to be around Haizaki-kun, let me be around Haizaki-kun and mind your own business! I’m avoiding you for a reason, Aomine-kun! ”, Kuroko yelled irritably as he slapped the older teen’s hand away from him. Aomine stood where he was in shock at what he’d just done. He really did live up to that ‘monster’ title now. Daiki didn’t even have to do this, actually he went completely out of his way just to confront Tetsu about something that had nothing to do with him to begin with. Looking down now, he could see the smaller teen’s shoulders shaking. He new that Kuroko was completely overwhelmed by his emotions, but he didn’t feel it was his place to offer comfort to him. After all it was he himself who had pushed the shadow away in the first place. If Kuroko wanted to be left alone, then he couldn’t go against that. With slight reluctance Aomine turned and walked away, leaving the teen to himself. - It was Haizaki who’d found the shadow in his sorry state. The grey-haired teen had been waiting for him at his house and had begun to get worried when he was thirty minutes late. With his ‘something is wrong’ senses going off in his head, Shougo made his way to the school gym only to find Tetsuya in a heap not even ten steps out the main gate of the premises. “Tetsuya? What are you doing sitting out in the dark in the middle of winter? You’re going to get sick and then I’m going to have to force soup down your throat along with burgers that I always have to fight you to eat!”, Haizaki said in an irritated voice. Kuroko could nearly hear the relief in the taller male’s voice and began to feel guilty for not coming home. “I’m sorry, Haizaki-kun.”, the shadow said lowly as he lifted his pink-tinted and tearful face up to look at Shougo’s. The older male began to panic a little, thinking he was the cause of the tears . “Oi, I’m not mad at you or anything, so stop crying! Sheesh, you’re such a woman...”, Haizaki said in the nicest way he possibly could. Tetsuya shook his head and stood up, walking over to the taller male slowly. When he reached the older teen he went on his tippy-toes and wrapped his arms around Shougo’s neck, making him stiffen as the small teen buried his face in his shoulder. “O-oi, what are you-!” “Please…Don’t leave me Haizaki-kun. Please don’t leave me all alone…”, Kuroko murmured as he drank in the familiar and pleasant scent of the taller. Shougo tsked as he realized that now he really couldn’t leave. It wasn’t like he was really planning to, but now Tetsuya was officially his responsibility. “What are you talking about? I didn’t walk all the way out here looking for you just to leave you here, idiot.”, Haizaki said as he felt the shadow’s lips curve into a weak smile against his skin. The smaller knew full well that the older had known what he was really talking about and was letting him know that he wasn’t going anywhere without seeming like he cared. It was amusing to the younger teen that Shougo was always beating around the bush when it came to letting him know that he was there for him. “Thank you, Shougo-kun.”, the shadow said thankfully as the taller stiffened again at having Kuroko say his first name. “Yeah, whatever.”, Haizaki said curtly as the smaller pulled away from him and they walked back to Kuroko’s together. ***** Chapter 4 ***** Chapter 4 Shougo was pissed, murderous even. He had been trying to pry the reason for Tetsuya’s tears out of him all night and had finally received an answer. “Shougo-kun just let it go. It’s over now, I don’t think he’ll bother me again.”, Kuroko said hurriedly, trying to convince the taller teen that confronting Daiki wasn’t a good idea. “Like hell it is! Why the fuck would he go out of his way to fucking attack you like that, the fucking prick! I didn’t think he was dumb enough to believe the rumors that are floating around school.”, Haizaki hissed as he clenched his jaw dangerously. The small shadow looked down at the living room floor as he listened to the male pace and mull over his next course of action. There was no way he could stop Shougo from going and confronting Daiki, but he could possibly convince the older teen promise not to hurt him. “Please don’t try and fight him. If one of you gets hurt, I won’t forgive you.”, Tetsuya said suddenly but firmly, making the older’s eyes widen and his body cease its movements. There was a long pause as the smaller teen’s gaze burnt holes into to Haizaki, daring him to try and go against him. The taller teen knew that Kuroko was being dead serious. If one of them wound up hurt, he would not by any circumstances be forgiven, but he still couldn’t be sure if he wouldn’t or not. “I can’t promise anything. I’m just going to talk to him, but if things go south then you best believe I’m fighting him.”, Shougo said as he turned and began to throw on his jacket that had been resting on the arm of the couch. The shadow knew all too well that the older teen was only saying that because Haizaki wanted to put his worries to rest and he wasn’t having any of it. Tetsuya watched silently as the other male began to walk towards the door, a wary look plastered on his face as his eyes followed the movement. “Shougo-kun.” “Yeah?”, Haizaki answered as he let his hand rest on the doorknob as he looked straight ahead. “You’re going to come back, right?”, Kuroko asked hesitantly as Shougo sighed. “Look, Tetsuya, I’m not going to die or anything. I might come back a little beat up, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. You’re good at fixing me up after my fights, right?”, the small forward said before he finally stepped out and shut the door behind him. The shadow sat where he was for a long moment as he thought of what he was going to do. He knew for fact, that someone was going to get seriously hurt tonight, whether it be Aomine, Haizaki, or both of them. Knowing this just made the small teen extremely antsy. In an effort to calm himself down, he went to the fridge and decided to eat the leftover food Shougo had brought him for lunch this afternoon. He’d finished the shake that came along with it easily and was too full to do anything but nibble at it, but the boxed lunch that Haizaki had made was amazingly delicious. It was poorly put together and was anything but beautiful, but it was impossibly good for something that looked so badly constructed. The older teen must have noted the foods that he seemed to enjoy by watching him closely. One good quality Shougo had was paying attention to small details such as these. Haizaki has been bringing him a bigger variety of his favorite foods lately, playing it off as just a coincidence that he’d brought that particular meal or snack. Though the older was quick to deny having done it on purpose, the small teen was more than thankful for this adjustment in his menu because he hated having to eat greasy burgers for every meal of the day. After Tetsuya had finished the left-overs, he felt no better about the situation in the least. After brooding over the subject silently for a few more minutes, he decided to go check on them. It had been about two hours now. Kuroko was a very slow eater and an even slower one when he was thinking about something while doing so. The small teen quickly cleaned up his mess and threw on his shoes before he briskly walked out the door, remembering to lock the door behind himself as he went. - Shougo tsked as he left the last place he’d thought Daiki could possibly be this early in the night. It was only about seven thirty and around this time one could find the dark-skinned ace at the courts or on the grassy hill at the park. Stumped, Haizaki cursed to the wind and began to walk back to Kuroko’s promising himself that he’d corner him tomorrow at school. He’d only gotten about a block away from where he had been when a voice cut through the still twilight. “Oi Haizaki-bastard, I’ve been looking for you all over!” , an angry, familiar voice called out from across the street, making the grey-haired teen’s blood boil. “And I’ve been looking for your sorry ass too.”, Haizaki snarled, “Got a minute?” “So, I heard about you and Tetsu. Is it true that you’re fucking him now?”, Aomine said dangerously low, cutting right to the point as he stood about a good two feet away from the slightly shorter male. “Hmmm, I don’t know… Why does it matter to you? Does it bother you that your little ex-boyfriend is more interested in me now? You must have really fucked up if he favors me over the great Aomine Daiki, ace of the Generation of Miracles.”, Shougo mocked at he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. The dark skinned ace’s fists tightened at the cord the ash-haired teen had just struck. Instead of losing his cool, though, he played it off with a smirk. “So what if the little slut favors you now? He doesn’t matter to me, but he must mean something to you if you’re out here right now... You so worried about him that you went out of your way to fuck me up because of what I did? Pathetic! I never thought a playboy troublemaker could be this soft. Is that all for show then, wannabe?” It was then that Haizaki finally snapped. It hadn’t taken much for the pair of them to get under one another’s skin and now the confrontation had escalated into an all-out brawl, one that Daiki was losing. At some point during the fight, Shougo had downed the taller male with a well-placed punch to the face. The ace had dropped like a brick, his mind blank for a few seconds and his eyes gone dark. He had been a second too late to recover and at this point it was all over. “You sure talk big, for a guy who’s never been in a fight a day in his life.”, the shorter male teased as he pulled Aomine up by the front of his shirt and prepared to strike again. In retaliation Daiki spat blood at the male looming over him, egging him on. In irritation the ash-haired teen moved his grip to Daiki’s short blue hair instead, making the ace let out a gurgled groan. “You’re gonna regret doing that number, Dai-chan.”, Shougo scoffed as he kept the struggling teen in place for what was to come next. Before Haizaki could deliver another blow a familiar voice rose up from behind him, making his blood run cold. “Stop, Shougo-kun!” The pause on the grey-haired teen’s part gave Daiki enough time to get the upper hand. Using his head as a battering-ram, the dark-skinned teen pushed his head into the looming male’s stomach, bowling the small forward over as the dark-skinned ace began to release all his pent up rage out on the smaller male. Aomine could vaguely hear his name being called in the distance, but was too out of it to pay any mind to it. A few seconds later he was being pulled, backwards onto his ass and off of the teen under him with surprising force. “I told you to stop!”, Tetsuya nearly screamed as he stood between Daiki and the now fallen Haizaki. “Fine, protect that piece of shit if you want!”, the ace sid irritably as he got up and left, limping slightly as he went. Without a word Shougo picked himself up as well, pissed off that he’d lost because his one and only weakness had showed up at the wrong time. Now the taller teen was sporting more injuries than he would have had if he’d been able to finish Aomine off without any interruption. - There was a tense silence between the bluenette and older teen as they walked back to Kuroko’s apartment. Tetsuya wanted to say something, anything, but was hesitant at first. The taller teen looked like a walking time-bomb about ready to explode at any moment. Despite this, the shadow decided to speak up. “Shougo-ku-” “Why the fuck did you get in the way, Tetsuya!”, Haizaki burst as he wiped blood off the corner of his lip for the one billionth time in the past ten minutes. “I-” “You’re so stupid! I lost, Tetsuya! I don’t ever lose! Do you know what that’ll do to my reputation?!” “But you were hurting Aomine-kun! I can’t just let you do that!”, Kuroko said as he began to get heated as well. There was a short silence that followed as the taller teen stopped in his tracks. “You’re still in love with him, aren’t you? After everything he’s done, you still love him!”, Shougo said bluntly, suddenly feeling even more sour for losing to Daiki. “I don’t lov-” “Don’t lie to me Tetsuya! I can see right through you and you know it!” Kuroko was silent. There was nothing more to say. Denying it would do him no good. He was still in love with Aomine Daiki, regardless of what he has done. No matter how much he hated it, he was bound to the dark skinned ace like glue. “I’m going home, try not to get kidnapped or something.”, Haizaki said tiredly with a sigh as he began to walk in the opposite direction of the shadow’s flat. As Kuroko watched the last thing he had leave, he began to feel more alone than ever. ***** Chapter 5 ***** Chapter 5 Haizaki sighed as he looked up at his ceiling while throwing a basketball up in the air as if it were a volleyball. Usually at this time of day he’d be walking back to school to pick Kuroko up, walk back to his apartment together, and figure out what the smaller teen wanted to eat, which usually was something that was located far away, but it had been about three days since that ritual last occurred. Shougo hated having to go all the way across town all the time to get the smaller teen his meals, but the bluenette was picky and all but stopped eating after he brought in a burger for dinner for the tenth time. “Is that idiot even eating anymore?”, the ash-haired teen sighed as his stress level increased. Haizaki hadn’t seen Tetsuya even once since that night when he left him alone on the street. His guess was that either the teen was not going to school or was doing everything in his power to avoid him as he’d promised. Then another thought creeped into his mind. ‘He’s probably mooching off Aomine now. He’s sure leached plenty off me, so of course he needs a replacement.’, Shougo thought sourly as he threw his basketball against his bedroom door with shooting form. With another sigh the tall teen tried to force all thoughts of the shadow from his mind, but it was a useless effort. Within minutes his every thought was consumed with worry for the smaller and longing to go see him to make sure that he wasn’t dying or anything. If Shougo hadn’t have had such a huge ego, he would have just dropped it all and walked over right away. For what reason was he so irked? Haizaki had to think long and hard for the answer to that one. The matter of fact is that Kuroko had taken Daiki’s side instead of his. This was something the older teen couldn’t stand. It made him feel angry, betrayed, and most of all jealous. It had taken Shougo a lot of time to accept that he was, in fact, jealous that Tetsuya deemed Aomine more important than him. But why? Why was he so bothered? Last time Haizaki checked, he was sure he was straight, so It couldn’t be that he’d caught feelings for the shorter teen… right? The teen groaned as he turned over in his bed, throwing a pillow over his head to block all of his thoughts out. At this point, he’d had enough of thinking for a LONG time. Just when he thought that he was going to crush his own brain into a sloppy mess, his phone vibrated. Slowly picking it up, he unlocked his cell phone and read the message that was sent to him. Hibiki: Party at my place tonight. You coming or not? Haizaki took a minute to think as he tried to come to a decision. Shougo: Is there going to be alcohol? The taller male got up and prepared to leave, already knowing the answer as he watched three dots dance at the bottom of his screen showing that the other male was typing. Hibiki: And chicks. You better not come up with another excuse not to fucking come, you haven’t been out in like a whole month! Don’t go square on me now man… Haizaki bristled at the accusation and immediately shot a text back as he walked out of his bedroom. Shougo: Call me square again and I’ll punch your fucking teeth out… where at? - Kuroko stared blankly at Kise and Aomine playing one-on-one from the bench. Usually he’d had already been gone by now and at the house eating the food Haizaki had brought him, but again, for the third day in a row, there was no sign of him. Truly Tetsuya was expecting the older to get bored of him at some point; he wasn’t stupid. Shougo was never the type to stick around for long periods of time and he was truly surprised that he didn’t leave sooner. Though the smaller knew that it’d all end eventually, he still couldn’t help but get hopeful as he searched the school entrance for any sign of familiar grey hair. “Kurokocchi, are you okay?”, a certain blonde’s voice cut in to his thoughts as he turned his eyes upward to find the taller teen standing directly in front of him. Kise flinched when broken, empty looking eyes gazed up at him. The look sent shivers down his spine, until the smaller’s gaze turned away from him and to the floor. ‘Am I really even okay?’, Tetsuya thought to himself as he left without giving Ryouta an answer. Before the smaller teen shut the gym door behind him, he could have sworn he felt Aomine’s eyes burning into his skin from somewhere behind him. He sensed the uncertainty in the air around the dark-skinned ace, as if the older was debating whether or not he should do something, but the moment of uncertainty faded away as soon as it had come when the smaller disappeared from his sight. When the teen made his way outside the school entrance, he suddenly didn’t feel like going home. Where did he want to go instead? The bluenette didn’t have a clue, anywhere was fine at this point. Walking in a direction he’d never really gone before, Kuroko walked and walked until he was in a place that was unfamiliar to him. It was pleasant to be away from the areas that held memories of his short time with Shougo. Here he could cleanse his mind of him and try and shake the cloud of depression that had been following him around more often than not since that night. Tetsuya didn’t really know exactly how he felt about Haizaki leaving. On the surface he felt pretty okay with it, like it was something he knew was going to happen, but at the same time, underneath all the pretending he felt lost and secluded from the rest of the world. In a way, Shougo had been the light that would shine through the darkness and light the way, but with that gone there was no one to guide him back on track. Again he’d ceased eating and sleeping and was even beginning to think about not even showing up for school anymore, wanting to do homeschooling instead. Just as the small teen was starting to get to the bottom of his true feelings for a certain ash-haired teen, a voice called out to him. “Are you looking for the party? It’s right back here. Don’t worry if you weren’t really invited, anyone’s allowed in.”, an unfamiliar male voice called to him from just behind. Kuroko quickly turned around and tried to think of something to say to the taller teen. Something about the guy was off and the smaller didn’t like it at all. He looked intimidating and dangerous, like he had an ulterior motive. “Ummm, I don’t know if I should-” “Oh come on, you’re only young once.E njoy yourself! We’ve got drinks and everything!”, the male replied as he walked up to the shadow and draped his arm around his shoulders With warning bells going off in his head, Tetsuya tried to pull away from the older teen desperately, but was caught in a steel-like grip. The smaller teen looked up with a terrified look on his face as his eyes were captured by a hungry gaze. His panic multiplied as he saw the bigger male lick his lips in anticipation, for what he didn’t know. Seeing there was no possible way to escape, he decided to make things easier for himself and bide his time until he could get away. Pure fear rose up in Kuroko’s chest as he was guided into an dark alley and into an almost hidden door, disappearing from the sight of the main road. - Shougo downed his fourth drink as he looked around the small hole-in-the-wall “Apartment” as his friend called it; nothing interesting. The place was nearly a sausage fest and the girls that were here were nothing to look at. With nothing to preoccupy his mind with, his thoughts drew up blank. He had a nice buzz going and he was hoping to get smashed enough that he would wipe out every memory he had of a certain bluenette, but his mind was convinced that something was wrong. ‘He should be fine by himself, he’s not stupid.’, Haizaki told himself as he picked up another drink and began to drink again to take the edge of his senses. “Oi Haizaki, look what I brought us!” Shougo sighed. Yamato had a bad habit of pulling in “innocent” looking people from off the street and forcing them to come. That in itself wasn’t so bad, but when it escalates into getting them so hammered that they can’t reject his advances, that’s where it becomes a problem. Personally, the ash-haired teen didn’t like to take part in things like that. He was a complete asshole with no regard for others, but he had some morals. Haizaki turned in his chair to get a look at the poor unlucky teen that got dragged in here when he caught sight of blue hair,. His heart froze as he was stood corrected. There standing in front one of the most dangerous and sketchy people here, was none other than Kuroko Tetsuya. Shougo’s first instinct was to pull him out of here as soon as possible, but then that would cause problems. Maybe he could play along and act like he wanted in on the action, but then there would be a bigger problem if he insisted he wanted Tetsuya to himself. Quickly deciding to play it cool, he gave Yamato an ‘Are-you-out-of-your-damned-mind look’. “What?”, the brunette male said as he saw the weird look that crossed his friend’s features. “Do you know who’s pet you just pulled off the street?”, the ash-haired teen said as the other teen gave him a confused look. Haizaki saw Kuroko flinch at the way he addressed him, but ignored it as he sighed and locked eyes with Yamato. “That kid belongs to the Generation of Miracles, not to mention Akashi Seijuro.”, Shougo said dangerously low as his friend took on a look of panic. Everyone knew of the redhead’s terror and no one would willingly do anything to provoke him. Luckily for the ash-haired teen his friend here had witnessed first hand just how insane Akashi could get if you went against his “orders” or messed with his property. “What do I do if he finds out?” “Here, I’ll just go take him back and clear this all up. I was on his team before, right?”, Haizaki said getting up to pull Tetsuya out of the man’s arms. Just before the ash-haired teen could even brush a finger on the bluenette, the smaller was yanked away from him. “Can I trust you? Can you really clear this all up?”, Yamato said with a dangerous tone that reeked with an underlying threat. “Yes. You scratch my back and I scratch yours, I owe you one from the time you hid all that weed for me before the cops showed up a while back.”, Haizaki said, praying that he could just get Kuroko out of here. There was a moment of heavy silence as Yamato glared at the ash-haired teen and gripped the bluenette’s shoulders so tight the shadow winced and looked up at Haizaki with those fearful blue eyes of his. Shougo was about to risk fighting the older male in order to free Tetsuya, but then quickly noticed that the grip on the smaller teen’s shoulders slackened. Without a word, the brunette shoved the smaller male into the small forward as he turned to find something else to “play” with. Not wanting to stick around, the taller teen grabbed the shadow’s arm and pulled him out of there as fast as he could. When they were nearly about five blocks out, Shougo finally spoke. “What the hell were you thinking? Don’t you know that this area is sketchy and dangerous? If I hadn’t been there tonight, you would have been raped, Tetsuya, do you understand that?!”, Shougo was shaking as he picked up his speed in an effort to get Kuroko back to the safety of his house faster. The shadow couldn’t even answer, too shaken up by being told what could have happened if there had been no one to save him; his fear bubbling over into terror. “Tetsu-” The taller of the two looked back to find that the smaller was crying harshly, his breaths coming out in little sobs as his body all but stopped moving. “Oi don’t cry, it’s okay now. You were stupid for coming out here this late at night, but you’ll live.”, Haizaki said in a softer tone as he felt Tetsuya begin to shake. “I just want to go home…”, Kuroko whimpered, looking exhausted. Exhausted. It was then that Shougo noticed the state the the smaller was currently in. His eyes had bags under them, his body seemed a little lighter than before, and his hair was a little unkempt as if he couldn’t be bothered to fix his bedhead all the way. “Dammit Tetsuya! Can you not even function when I’m not around? I fucking knew leaving you by yourself was a bad idea. We are going to go get you a burger on the way home and you are going to eat every last bite, you got that? Then after that you’re going to go to bed and go back to school in the morning as always.”, Haizaki said as he took his wallet out of his back pocket and counted up his cash. The taller male had just enough for a vanilla shake and a meal from Maji Burgers and thanked god that he didn’t spend it all that night on some weed. “Shougo-kun…”, Kuroko said hesitantly as his pace slowed. “Save it, I don’t want to hear excuses from you right now.”, Shougo said in a dismissive tone. “I missed you.”, the smaller said tearfully. Haizaki was never one to get flustered, but right then he was completely overwhelmed. His cheeks and ears turned a deep red as he struggled to keep his face ahead. “Don’t say things out of no where like that…”, the ash-haired teen said as he realized he was still holding onto the smaller teen and let go. ***** Chapter 6 ***** Haizaki sighed as he found himself waking up in another bed that wasn’t his own. It wouldn’t have bothered him in the least had it not been Tetsuya’s bed and said teen wasn’t clinging to his arm. The ash-haired teen stared up at the ceiling blankly as he felt the smaller teen pull his arm closer into his stomach and rub his face against his clothed arm to scratch an itch on his cheek. He wanted to pull away so badly, but then that would wake Kuroko up and the teen could use all the extra rest he could get. Looking over at the smaller teen warily, Shougo started to feel very uncomfortable. He felt like his arm was literally burning everywhere the shadow was touching. Physical contact was never one of Haizaki’s strong points. Well, unless he was fucking someone, but he wasn’t fucking Tetsuya. He figured unless he was banging someone then there was really no point in touching them, so for the taller teen this was borderline unnecessary contact. Borderline, because Tetsuya couldn’t sleep unless he was touching the older teen in some way. The smaller teen had developed a genuine fear of not having Shougo practically plastered to his side when he was asleep and somewhere within seeing distance when he was awake. It had gotten so bad that Haizaki actually had to go to school because if he didn’t Kuroko would wind up coming home early and showing up at his doorstep looking shaken up. Now the small teen was always very wary of other people, eyeing them suspiciously if they crossed his field of vision. He became so paranoid of being on his own with no one to save him if someone decided to kidnap him that he rarely went anywhere without Shougo. Yamato had left him a little messed up, but it was Haizaki who had ingrained Tetsuya’s need to stay close to him to an extreme extent. Telling the smaller teen that if he had not been there, then bad things would have happened to him must have hit home somewhere psychologically because now the bluenette saw Shougo as his lifeline. Being depended on so heavily was something Shougo couldn’t really handle. For some reason, he felt responsible for the shadow and responsibility wasn’t one of his strong points either. Luckily, even though it was a slow healing process, Tetsuya had gotten much better compared to just two days ago. The mental damage wasn’t permanent. Well he was guessing the fear would always kinda be there, which was good… in a way. It would keep him from doing stupid things like that again. A nearly quiet yawn made the older teen look over, his eyes immediately being captured by big, tired, sky blue orbs. “Good morning Shougo-kun…”, the younger teen smiled softly as he finally let go of the ash-haired male’s arm. “’Morning, Tetsuya.”, Haizaki said gruffly as he watched the bluenette get up to go brush his teeth. Kuroko had a thing about brushing his teeth first thing when he woke up. The reason being that the taste in his mouth when morning rolled around was revolting and disgusting to him. After stretching out his stiff muscles, the older teen got up as well to take a quick shower. On his way to the bathroom, he picked out a towel from the hallway closet and threw it over his shoulder as he walked into the small restroom behind Tetsuya. The smaller had just finished cleaning the unbearable, vile taste in his mouth and was trying to slip out of the bathroom past Haizaki, completely forgetting to fix his horrible bed-hair. Reaching out with a sigh, Shougo grabbed the bluenette’s shoulders and pulled him close enough so that the older teen could fix his tangled locks. After combing his hands through the blue mess and making it lie flat, the ash-haired male turned Kuroko lose. “Don’t forget about your awful hair, idiot. I’m gonna take a shower. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”, the taller teen said before he shooed the smaller out after the shadow nodded in understanding. Kuroko sighed as he turned away from the bathroom door and walked back to his bedroom. He was a little sad because his mom was coming home from her business trip tonight and that meant that Haizaki couldn’t stay with him for a while. With a thump, the bluenette fell face-first onto his bed. Even with Shougo just in the other room, he still felt a little uneasy. He had a lurking feeling that someone was just watching and waiting for the perfect moment to snatch him up and take him to god knows where to do unspeakable things to him. Tetsuya knew that his fear was unreasonable, that there was little to no chance of that happening, but in the back of his mind there was always that thought that it could happen. The small teen must have lost track of his surroundings as he let his imagination scare him out of his wits because when he heard his bedroom door creak open he nearly jumped out of his skin and jerked around quick enough to give him whiplash. It only took him a few seconds to realize who it was and relax, but Haizaki had already seen the fearful look in his eyes. “Jeez, you really are hopeless.. When are you going to get over that ridiculous fear of yours?”, Shougo sighed as he ran a hand through his wet hair. It was then that Kuroko realized that the older was completely shirtless and had shimmering droplets of water covering his sculpted chest and back. The shadow had seen the male nearly naked millions of times before during his time playing basketball on the team, but that was during their first year of middle school. Puberty had hit all the members of the generation of miracles like a train and Haizaki was no exception. Since when was the ash-haired teen so built? The bluenette was so captured by Shougo’s body, that he failed to realize that said male was looking directly at him nearly the whole time. “What is it, Tetsuya? I filled out a bit since last time you saw me shirtless, don’t you think?”, the male teased the shadow as a blush creeped onto the smaller’s face. “I-I don’t know..”, Kuroko said as he swallowed thickly and turned away. Chuckling, Shougo walked up to the bluenette and leaned down into his face, nearly close enough for their noses to just graze against each other. Tetsuya went rigid and felt his heart race as he stared deeply into steely-grey eyes. He was completely captured and he wasn’t able to turn away even if he wanted to. He was so captured, in fact, that he failed to notice Haizaki’s hand begin to raise up until he was suddenly flicked in the forehead. It didn’t hurt all that much, but the shock of it was enough to make his hands shoot up to cover the spot that was flicked. “Pervert.”, Shougo teased as Tetsuya turned ever redder,” Hurry up and take a shower, we still have to stop by the corner store to pick up some doughnuts on the way to school.” - Shougo happily gobbled up his maple bar from the store as Kuroko slowly nibbled on his vanilla bean flavored doughnut. They were only about a block from the school now and the bluenette shuddered at the thought of being left alone in a classroom full of people he didn’t take the time to know. The reassurance that no one noticed him unless they were looking for him, made him feel better as the school entrance came into sight. Still, Tetsuya had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right and his suspicions were confirmed when he caught sight of familiar red hair. Kuroko’s sky blue eyes were drawn to a pair of heterochromic ones and were trapped as the redhead voiced his command through his gaze. He was waiting for him specifically and there was no way he was going to escape talking to him. “Shougo-kun..”, Tetsuya said in a worried tone, knowing that more likely than not Haizaki would go against his wishes just to be a rebel. “Yeah, what is it?”, the older answered casually as he wiped away the crumbs of his breakfast. “Akashi-kun wants to talk to me this morning…” “Okay, fine. I don’t care about being late.”, Shougo said easily making the bluenette even more wary. “I don’t think you understand Shougo-kun. He wants to talk to me... alone.” At these words the older teen bristled, the result of what happened last time a miracle wanted to “talk” to him coming to his mind immediately. Kuroko had enough to deal with at the moment, he was still healing with both his ordeal with Daiki and with that rapist Yamato. There was no way he could handle another emotional break, but even Shougo himself couldn’t go against Seijuro’s demands. Taking a tactical approach, Haizaki decided to play it cool. “Whatever, I’ll be waiting for you on the roof at lunch.”, Shougo said as the smaller gave him a slight smile and a nod. Walking away and blending with the river of students migrating into the school grounds just as they reached the redhead, Haizaki watched the pair exchange a few words and walk of the the fielded area near the school entrance. Luckily for him, the two stayed just around the corner and near the wall surrounding the school making it easy for Shougo to spy on them as long as he stayed around the corner and hidden from sight. - Tetsuya’s gaze hardened as he and Akashi turned the corner to the field next to the school. The captain had a serious look on his face as well and seemed to want to get straight to the point. “What is it, Akashi-kun? I have somewhere to be.”, the bluenette said with a dismissive tone. The redhead frowned deeply at this as irritation sparked in his eyes. “Where do you have to be? Hopefully nowhere with that delinquent Haizaki Shougo when you’re supposed to be in class.”, Seijuro said in a dangerous tone, hinting at the topic of the discussion. “So I’m guessing Aomine-kun told you, then? Whatever he said isn’t true and you know it. I am not having sex with Shougo-kun.”, Tetsuya said trying to reassure the captain. “I’m already well aware of that. I’m more concerned of your new need to be glued to Shougo’s side. It seems that you get very uneasy when you are separated from him for long periods of time… Did something happen?”, Akashi asked as he raised a brow and the bluenette lowered his gaze to the ground. The shadow was positive that the redhead knew every little detail of the whole ordeal of what had happened and was just asking to see if he would lie to him. “Why is it that you know everything?”, Tetsuya said in a low voice as Seijuro chuckled in a way that sent chills down his spine. When Akashi laughed, it sounded dangerous and slightly crazed. “Money is power and power gets you information. I made sure that Yamato was properly punished for his behavior and doubled Daiki’s training regime for getting in a fight with Shougo, jeopardizing his spot on the team. Had a teacher found out, he would have been expelled from playing for the rest of the school year.” “What do you want me to say? Thank you for your consideration? I don’t understand what it is you want from me…”. The bluenette said uncertainly as he became increasingly more uncomfortable. The redhead said nothing as he walked towards the shorter teen until he was just in front of him. Reaching out his arm he grasped the shadow’s chin and gently, but forcefully pulled his head up so he could look the smaller in the eye. “I want you to understand that you, like the rest of the Generation of Miracles, belong to me and only me.”, Seijuro murmured as he used his thumb to pull down Kuroko’s bottom lip slightly to expose his bottom row of teeth. Akashi leaned in closer than before, bringing his lips close enough to just graze Tetsuya’s own. Kuroko could have physically wrenched his face away, but his body was held captive by those authoritative heterochromatic eyes. “I want you to understand, that I will not let Shougo, or anyone else for that matter, take you away from me. Your body belongs to me and I have say over what you can and can’t do with it…”, Seijuro trailed off as he began to press his lips completely against Tetsuya’s. The feeling of something warm pressing against his lips, brought Kuroko back to his senses as he pushed the redhead away with surprising force, nearly knocking the captain off balance. The bluenette ran his clothed arm over his lips as if to wipe Seijuro’s kiss away while said teen licked his lips slowly and deliberately. “Now no one can take your first kiss, because I have taken it for myself. I plan to take more than that in the future.”, the older teen smirked as he walked off in the opposite direction to enter the school from the back entrance. The smaller teen stood there in complete shock as he held a hand to his face. His first kiss… his first kiss was taken by one of the people he hated the most and what exactly did he mean about taking more? Tetsuya didn’t know. He was so out of it, that he didn’t even know that Haizaki was in front of him until the teen was practically shaking him. “Oi, Snap out of it Tetsuya!”, Shougo nearly growled as he glared daggers in the direction that Seijuro had disappeared into. It was then that what had happened really hit Kuroko hard. “He..he took my…fi-” “Bullshit! That wasn’t anything but child’s play!”, the ash-haired teen said, anger rolling off of him like a tidal wave. “But it still counts.., he already..”, Tetsuya said as he took a step back toward the school wall as he stared at the ground in disbelief. “No it doesn’t. He hasn’t taken anything and I’ll prove it to you!” Without any warning whatsoever, Haizaki pushed the bluenette back against the wall he was standing in front of and angrily pushed his lips against the smaller’s own. Kuroko let out a surprised gasp at the suddenness of the action and Shougo used that moment to shove his tongue fully into the shadow’s mouth. At first Tetsuya didn’t respond as he felt the ash-haired teen’s tongue glide along his own, but when he felt the entire length of Haizaki’s body press against his, he clumsily tried to keep up the older teen’s movements. As the taller male hungrily devoured Tetsuya, he found himself slightly bucking his hips into the bluenette’s stomach; searching for friction as he felt the smaller teen begin to sport a bulge of his own against his leg. This brought him back as he finally pulled away. It felt far too soon to break the kiss, but what he had just done was fifty shades of wrong. Resting his head against the out-of-breath shadow’s forehead, he let what he’d just done really sink into his mind. When the fact of what he’d just done finally registered in his mind, Shougo felt complete dread wash over him. “Fuck!”, Haizaki hissed as he moved his head only to slam it into the wall next to Kuroko’s neck. Tetsuya still stood dazed as he felt the older’s breaths against his neck. He could tell easily that the taller male regretted what he’d done and was beating himself up about it, but Kuroko himself felt like begging for more. “Sh-Shougo-ku-?” “Fuck, look. Just pretend that never happened alright? ...Dammit!”, Haizaki cursed as he pushed himself away and distanced himself from the younger teen. Dread built up in the bluenette as he realized that the older teen seemed to be withdrawing from him. When Shougo messed up, he decided to drop the whole friendship or relationship and never talk to that person again and Kuroko definitely did not want that. “Shougo-kun wait! I’ll forget about it, but you can’t-”, Tetusya began before he was cut off. “Look, Tetsuya. I just need some space for a quick second. Don’t cry, don’t do something stupid, just don’t do anything. Stay at school and go to practice, okay?”, Shougo said before he walked away without as much as an okay from Kuroko. Tetsuya watched Haizaki walk away again and felt the need to do the exact opposite of what he had told him to do. ***** Chapter 7 ***** Shougo smirked as he caged the girl under him in with his arms; towering above her as he ground himself against her sex teasingly. "Please! Just put it in already....", the attractive girl whimpered as she tried to put him in herself. Haizaki chuckled huskily as he pulled away completely with a teasing look on his face "Well... Since you asked so nicely.." The young girl under him arched her back completely off the bed when the ash- haired teen suddenly thrust himself in all the way to the hilt. "Sh-Shougo-kun!", the girl gasped making the older pause. No one else called Haizaki Shougo-kun accept for Tetsuya. Hearing his name said like that brought back things he wanted to forget at the moment, so he stubbornly tried to block out the girl's words. Letting his head fall to the woman's shoulder he picked up the speed to a brutal pace, attempting to finish quickly before his mind lingered to other things. "It feels so good, Shougo-ku-" The small forward's patience quickly snapped as he cut off the girl's words with a hand as he practically growled in frustration. "Don't say my first name anymore, it's pissing me off." Haizaki tried desperately not to think of Tetsuya at that moment as he picked up the pace again, but once again the girl under him whimpered his first name in a way that sounded so much like the younger teen that it sent shivers down his spine. As if he's touched a burning hot skillet, Shougo quickly pulled away with a angered and panicked look on his face. "I thought I told you to shut your fucking mouth!" Shocked and more than a little hurt, the long-haired girl that was just under the basketball player sat up in confusion. "Is there something wrong?" "I can't! Not when you say my name like that!", Haizaki nearly yelled. "Shougo-kun? What do you mean?", the girl asked as she tried to reach to grasp the teen's shoulder. "Shut up already, will you?", Shougo said angrily as he quickly got up, redressed himself, and left. So much for a quickie to ease the tension. The encounter Haizaki had with Kuroko had made him want to forget as soon as possible, but anything he did that was sexual made the images of what he had done literally burn into his eyelids every time he closed his eyes even for a split second. "Two days now.", the ash-haired teen sighed. He'd have to go back and soon before Tetsuya did something reckless again. During his two days away from the bluenette, Shougo had hooked up with fifteen girls. Not once was he able to actually go all the way once it finally got down to it. Hell, he couldn't even kiss a girl anymore, not with what he'd done with a certain shadow assaulting his mind. For once Haizaki had to find other ways to clear his head. Even though he's promised himself over and over that he wouldn't ever step foot in a basketball court ever again after quitting, he found himself drawn to them right now more than ever. It was a pretty good way to clear your mind, but he hadn't been to the courts in months and he kinda felt as though he'd be out of place now. Still that didn't deter him as he turned the street corner and saw the place he used to spend most of his time at. Shougo cursed when he realized he didn't even have a basketball with him, but silently rejoiced when he saw that someone was already shooting hoops by themselves. Quickly walking closer, Haizaki called out to the stranger hoping to be able to play some one on one for old time's sake. "Oi! Mind if I play?" As soon as the teen got his words out, he wished he could snatch them back. When the unknown person turned around, Shougo immediately recognized the deep scowl on the man's face as none other than Aomine Daiki's. "Never mind.", the shorter teen said as he turned around and tried to walk away, not in the mood for a fight right now, but got jerked back around by a hand on his shoulder. "Actually I was just on my way to kick your ass again, perfect timing.", Daiki smirked dangerously only to be met with bored eyes. The deadpan look in the grey-haired teen's eyes made the ace boil. The way Daiki saw it was that Haizaki was the one who'd taken an L last time, so what gave him the right to look down on him? "Maybe another day, I'm going to the corner store.", Haizaki said dismissively as he turned away again and started walking. Aomine stood there in confusion for a few long moments. He was sure that the shorter teen was going to throw a punch at any second and here he was running away. "Oi! Don't walk away you bastard!", Daiki yelled in irritation. "You can follow if you want, I'm not running away.", Shougo replied as Daiki cursed. Reluctantly Aomine moved to catch up whilst muttering curses under his breath. Once he was side-by-side with the shorter teen, he was irked to find that the small forward was paying him no mind, like he had been convinced that he wouldn't even attempt to follow him. "I need to talk to you.", Daiki started only to receive no answer for a few long seconds. Assuming that he was listening Aomine started to speak. "I saw you at the side of the school a couple days ago." "Yeah? I typically hang out there whenever I decide to go to school.", Shougo said sarcastically. "Don't play stupid! You kissed Tetsu and then left him! Do you have any idea how bad it's been?" Daiki saw Haizaki's jaw tighten as he practically felt the waves of anger emitting from the shorter male. Knowing Shougo, Aomine was almost positive that a violent outburst would soon follow this change in the atmosphere. "You must have some big goddamn brass balls to be lecturing me about leaving Tetsuya.", the ash-haired teen said in a dangerous tone that was nearly dripping in warning. "And what do you know about all that, huh? You have no idea what I've been through! If I would have drug Tetsu down with me what do you think would have happened? I HAD to push him awa-" "I really don't give a shit about you or your problems. I can give you my therapist's number, though, he's fucking awesome at listening.", Shougo cut off as he turned his head forward again. The pair walked in silence after that outburst as the corner store came into sight. When they reached the door and stepped in they went their separate ways; Daiki to the magazine section and Haizaki straight to the beer section. The pair returned to the counter at the same time, a questioning look on Aomine's face when he saw the pack of booze in the shorter male's hand. Shougo glared back as if daring the taller to even utter a word considering the racy magazine the taller male had in his own hands. Haizaki let Daiki pay first as he looked through his wallet for his fake I.D. and quickly paid afterwards while the tanned teen waited by the door patiently for him. The ash-haired teen gave a weird look at this, but didn't say anything as the pair of them walked out. It was nearly completely dark at that point and the streets were lit up with neon lights as they walked back to the courts. After getting a few blocks from the corner store Shougo spoke up, breaking the silence between them. "Why are you so concerned about what me and Tetsuya are doing? You chose to leave him behind, so you have no business poking around." "Says the one who's been neglecting him too.", Aomine retorted. " It nearly killed him being pushed to the side like that. Trust me I know. Sure I've left him alone before, but I came back. You didn't. That's the difference between you and me.", Shougo said heatedly. "What about this time?" "What are you talking abou-?" "Are you going to come back?" Haizaki sighed and slowly looked up at the black sky. There was a long silence after that and Aomine was sure that he wasn't going to get an answer. "I couldn't just leave even if I wanted to."   - Kuroko sat in the living room staring blankly at the front door as the TV droned on in the background. What had it been? Two days? Tetsuya wasn't sure. What he did know was that it had been too long. Shougo hadn't even been to school during those two days he was away and the smaller teen knew without any doubt what he was doing. Anything along drinking, doing drugs, and indulging in girls was the smaller teen's guess. Weirdly he didn't care about all that, all he cared about was Haizaki returning to him. One way or another he wished he'd find his way back. On top of being abandoned for days on end, Tetsu was being watched very closely by a certain redheaded captain. He'd also gotten many surprise visits from the older teen many of which where he purposely tried to push his buttons and hint at how he noticed that Shougo has been missing. He'd kissed him again too telling him that it would have never worked out with that delinquent anyway and he was better off with someone more stable and appreciative of him. All the while the bluenette could do nothing but stare back at the taller teen as the older held his chin in his fingers and stared him deep in the eyes because he was right. He needed something more stable, someone who didn't neglect him, but still he couldn't find it in himself to just give up. He still had hope that Shougo would come back. "If he's not back in three days, consider my offer.", Akashi had said to Tetsuya before he'd left practice that night. As if he'd ever consider anything the redhead had to say to him. If he really wanted something stable he wouldn't look to a psychopath; he'd sooner date Midorima. Kuroko sighed heavily as he was jerked out of his thoughts by the clock hanging on the wall behind him striking twelve. The ash-haired teen wouldn't be coming back today either. The bluenette got up and turned off the tv and all the while keeping his eyes glued to the door, praying that he'd hear a knock at at any moment. When he didn't hear anything he convinced himself that the living room and kitchen needed to be cleaned. Slowly. After that he was sure he needed to make a boxed lunch for lunch tomorrow, knowing fully well that he wouldn't eat it. The teen did every task he could think of before he couldn't find anything else to do. It was three in the morning now and even if he went to bed, Tetsuya wouldn't sleep hardly at all anyway. Nonetheless, Kuroko turned off the living room light along with the kitchen light and slowly made his way down the hallway to his bedroom. Before he could get his hand on the doorknob, there was a hard knock on the door. There was so much power behind it that it made the floor rattle. Tetsuya's blood ran cold as he stood where he was, his hand lingering over the doorknob as his fear of being taken away returned to him at full force. The teen was finally able to move again when the violent knocks came again, this time more urgent sounding. Slowly creeping to the door Kuroko took a shuddering breath and against his better judgement, opened to door. "Took you long enough to open the damn door.", a familiar ash-haired teen slurred as he pushed himself inside past a shocked bluenette. "Shougo..-kun?", Tetsuya said as he watched the older teen stumble around the living room like a drugged moose. "God stop saying my first name already! I had a chick call me by my first name and I couldn't finish fucking her because of you!" "I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't do any-" "Like hell you didn't!", Haizaki yelled as he walked back over to the bluenette, "Do you realize what you've done to me?" Kuroko kept stepping backwards as Shougo advanced until the smaller teen was pressed against the front door. "I can't even get off without starting to think about you at some point... That's dangerous. This is dangerous, but I haven't gotten off in two days so I need to do this. I'll go insane.", the ash-haired teen murmured huskily as he looked down at the smaller teen, the alcohol smell on his breath making Kuroko want to recoil in disgust. "Haizaki-kun you're scaring m-" The bluenette cut himself off when he felt something rock hard press against his stomach as two hands snaked their way behind him to grasp his ass and push him forward into Haizaki's throbbing heat. It took Tetsuya a long moment to react, but when he did he did so violently. Without any warning the shadow pushed the older male back by his chest, making him fall on his ass as the smaller stood there looking rattled and shaken up. As if reality had returned to the small forward, Shougo's eyes lost their lust and the look was quickly replaced with shock and fear for what he'd just done. As if things couldn't get any worse, tears started to form in Kuroko's eyes before he quickly left the scene and went to his room, taking extra care to lock the door behind him. ***** Chapter 8 ***** Shougo groaned as light from outside filtered into his face through the window. He had a slight hangover, but not so bad that he wouldn't be able to function. As Haizaki opened his eyes the light assaulted him and made him hiss in annoyance, but he refused to back down. When his eyes finally adjusted, the teen quickly realized that he wasn't at home. A look of confusion crossed his features until last night's events flashed in his head. Cursing he immediately got up and walked, rather stumbled, down the hall to Tetsuya's room. He found it completely empty. The bed wasn't even warm anymore; Kuroko had been gone for hours. With a sigh the older male drug a hand over the side of his face, he'd fucked up...badly. It had taken the ash-haired teen that long, when he'd realized the sun was positioned low in the sky and the outside world was bathed in a deep gold color. It was obviously around evening; around the time Tetsuya was just getting out of practice. Shougo groaned as he realized he'd have to apologize somehow. For other people, apologizing seemed to be the simplest thing in the world, but for Haizaki it was the most impossible thing he could imagine. Haizaki Shougo did not apologize. The teen could easily make peace, but he couldn't verbally express his remorse. Maybe it was pride or maybe it was nervousness, he didn't know, but regardless of all that, he needed to fix things between Kuroko and himself. He just wanted things to go back to normal. Haizaki back to fucking girls without problems and the smaller not constantly in his head and Tetsuya back to crying over Aomine and clinging to Shougo for emotional support. With his addled mind, the older teen tried desperately to think of a way to make everything okay again and quickly came to the conclusion that if he bought Tetsuya a vanilla milkshake, everything would go back to normal. Quickly checking his pockets, Haizaki was relieved to find his wallet was where it should be. If he recalled correctly he had about fifteen bucks left; enough for the shake and a meal for himself. Without wasting so much as another second, the ash-haired teen walked out the front door before Kuroko could beat him to it and made sure to lock it with the spare key under the matt before he left. - Tetsuya inwardly sighed as he found himself cornered in the locker-room, alone and with Akashi staring him down like a predator. The bluenette tried as long as humanly possible to ignore the looming presence as he quickly gathered his things and shut his locker door. He kept his eyes to the ground as he walked straight past Seijuro without as much as a glance from the slightly taller teen. The shadow’s heart leaped with triumph until he heard a commanding voice stop him in his tracks. “Where do you think you’re going, Tetsuya?” “Home.”, Kuroko said passively, trying to make things as difficult as possible for the older teen, even refusing to turn around unless he was asked. “It’s been three days, have you thought about my offer?”, the redhead said seriously, cutting straight to the point. Tetsuya stood where he was with his hand still on the door handle, his grip slackening a bit as he let what was said to him register in his mind. Even if he didn’t accept Akashi’s offer, was it really the best to go back to depending on Haizaki? Was it worth clinging to Shougo so much that his world come crashing down whenever the older felt the need to retreat? Whatever doubts he had, Tetsuya pushed down again. He came back to him. Haizaki promised he wasn’t going to leave him all alone and he didn’t. He came back like he’d promised. “He came back.”, the bluenette said flatly as he finally swung open the door and stepped out. As he exited the locker-room, Kuroko could feel fire-red eyes burning into his back. He could practically sense Seijuro’s anger seeping out of him. Though he was very intimidated by this silent aggression, the shadow knew that Akashi wouldn’t hurt him. Well, at least not physically. The small teen shuddered violently as the door shut, hiding his figure from view. The intensity was very evident now that there wasn't anymore tension. To avoid any more unwanted attention the younger male picked up the pace and didn’t slow down again until he was well outside of school grounds. Only then did he let his mind wander on what he was going to do about Haizaki. Kuroko thought surely that the teen hadn’t moved at all, he was out cold just this morning after all. Nothing he did would wake the older teen from his deep sleep, not even jabbing him in his ribs was of any use. The smaller teen was actually glad that the taller male didn’t wake up, he had no clue what he would have said to him right then anyway. As he walked along he let his thoughts mull over what exactly happened last night. His stomach still burned where Shougo’s hot length had ground into him, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The thought of what could have happened last night made Tetsuya shudder with a weird form of anticipation. Everything was just moving too fast; it was too much to take in at once, so he panicked. Maybe it was because Haizaki was coming on too strong or maybe it was the fact that he was a virgin, maybe both, but a strong sense of fear had overpowered all of the pleasantness he was feeling. Overall the younger was thrown off by the fact that if Haizaki had wanted to in that moment, he could have easily taken advantage of him. Shougo and alcohol was never a good mix. It seemed to raise his aggression and sex drive levels and when the ash-haired teen showed up to school drunk, everyone tended to avoid him by all means possible. Technically speaking, a drunk Haizaki was a dangerous Haizaki. Yamato was dangerous, Yamato could have easily taken advantage of him too. When he put all those thoughts together into one, his anxiety rose tenfold. Tetsuya obviously had some issues left over from what had happened before and this situation hadn’t made those issues any better. It never occurred to Tetsuya that Shougo would actually get up and leave at some point during the day, so when he got home he was shocked and even a little disappointed to find the apartment empty. He had wanted to hear what the older teen would have to say about what had happened last night, but it looked as though that that wasn’t happening anytime soon. It wasn’t that Kuroko expected an apology, because god knows he’d never get one even if he had wanted one, it was that he was curious if those words actually meant anything. ‘Do you realize what you’ve done to me?’ ‘ I can’t even get off without starting to think about you at some point... That’s dangerous. This is dangerous, but I haven’t gotten off in two days so I need to do this. I’ll go insane.’   The bluenette quickly forced his lingering thoughts out of his head as he put down his sports bag and got ready to shower. The day had been pretty stressful, especially with having Aomine awkwardly following him around all day for some reason. It was almost painful to watch the ace try and strike up random conversation and if the bluenette remembered correctly, he seemed flustered and even a little nervous. The older teen had even gone out of his way to eat lunch on the school roof with Tetsuya just like old times, all the while seemingly looking for something. Kuroko guessed he was hiding from either Momoi or Kise, but either way he was kind of glad that it was him that Daiki had chosen to spend his day in hiding with. When the short teen felt a warm feeling bubble up inside of him at the thought of being chosen for a specific reason, he began to feel sick. There was no way he still had any feelings left for Aomine! Even after he came to the realization that he may have some kind of feelings for Shougo and being belittled by Daiki, twice might he add, there was still something left. The shadow quickly found himself willing a certain ash-haired teen to come back quickly and erase these thoughts from his head; Kuroko desperately needed a distraction. - Haizaki groaned when he realized he wouldn’t have enough money for a shake and a complete meal from Maji Burger. “A dollar short? You gotta be kidding me!" He let out a frustrated sound, but didn't let his outburst continue further. He could still order a burger at least. Still a little heated, he practically threw his money on the counter after ordering and hastily left after he got his food. Shougo's lingering hangover was making him unreasonably irritable and he began to wonder if he should even go back to Tetsuya's in this particular mood. He'd already done enough damage and this could just make everything that much worse. Maybe he should go back tomorrow considering that he didn't even know what to say to the shorter teen. The things he said can't be taken any other way other than that Haizaki wanted to fuck Kuroko into the sheets. It was already awkward enough with that floating around and now Shougo was seriously questioning his sexuality. He wasn't bi, no he couldn't be. The ash-haired teen had never been attracted to any other guys and even now he wasn't attracted to them. If that was so... Why was he so turned on by the bluenette? Maybe it was because the shadow looked sorta like a girl. He was feminine enough to fit the bill with his petite frame, soft voice, and gentle eyes. Yes that had to be it, but it was still a scary thing for Haizaki. Admitting that he felt himself stir at the thought of the shorter teen under him was a hard thing to do. Shougo's frustration grew as he came up blank when he tried to think of a way to explain himself to Tetsuya's without giving the truth away. He wanted to just get drunk again, but he knew his drunken self would fuck things up even more. While Shougo weighed his options, he failed to see the figure coming up the sidewalk right in front of him. The unknown person, instead of moving out of the way like any other person stayed on his path and walked straight into the small forward. “What the fuck! Watch where the fuck you’re going, you fucking dumbass!”, Shougo practically roared, ready to fight if the person retorted back. Haizaki was met with an almost raspy sounding chuckle as he turned around to see the person who had enough balls to be laughing in a situation like this. “Is that how you talk to your friends nowadays, Haizaki?”, a familiar voice rang out, low and dangerous. The ash-haired teen would know that voice anywhere; Yamato. He hadn’t even heard from the taller teen since the party, which he was thankful for. Yamato was so violent, he made even Haizaki nervous. Shougo took a good two steps back as he noticed a slight smirk on the brunette’s lips; that smirk meant nothing good. As the shorter teen took in the situation at hand he realized that the male had a very deep cut that ran from above his eyebrow to just under his eye. Haizaki could only guess that the eye was no longer there and he wondered what gang he’d pissed off this time. “Staring isn’t very nice, Haizaki.”, The brunette said lowly, tone dripping in warning. Shougo swiftly looked away and focused down the sidewalk at a tree. He had to say something, the older teen hated to be ignored more than anything, so he swallowed heavily and spoke up. “What...happened to it.”, the ash-haired teen said slowly, trying not to waver and display any more weakness than he already was. “You know, it’s funny you’d ask that since I’m sure you know damn well what happened to it. That Akashi guy is pretty fond of scissors, you know.”, Yamato said with fake friendliness as he stepped forward towards the shorter male in front of him. The small forward felt his body scream at him to run, to fight, anything, but his body stood rigid due to his pride weighing him down. The brunette didn’t stop his advance until the pair of them were nearly brushing noses. Yamato raised his head slightly as a silent show of dominance as Haizaki raised his to meet the challenge that the older was putting down. Shougo could already feel a fight fast approaching and the teen knew far too well how dirty the brunette played the game. The taller always carried around a pocket knife; wouldn’t dream of leaving home without it. Personally the ash-haired teen didn’t like unfair fights and preferred hand to hand combat over gimmicks, that would soon prove to be his downfall if Yamato decided he wanted to fight right here, right now. “You really had me convinced that you would take care of everything. Man was I dumb for trusting you! No one would ever stand up to Akashi, not even his little band of miracles.” Panic shot through Haizaki’s veins at having been caught by Yamato of all people. Still, regardless of the lurking danger, he stood his ground. “So what is it with you and that kid?”, the brunette asked suddenly, making Shougo’s blood run cold. “What are you talking about?”, Haizaki asked with rage edging in his voice. The shorter teen began to guess where this was going and he didn’t like the direction at all. All the fear and anxiousness he’d felt before seemed like a far cry now as he felt his fists begin to tighten and untighten at his sides. Yamato didn’t miss the change as he chuckled again. “Don’t play dumb with me, Haizaki. You’re not stupid enough to put yourself into tight situations like that, so why even risk it for one little runt of a basketball player? Even for a toy that’d be above and beyond.” “It’s not like that.”, Shougo said as his jaw tightened and he raised his head even higher. The brunette seemed to find this hilarious as he let his head fall back into a hearty laugh. Haizaki was reaching the end of his over-extended patience very quickly at this point. The worst part of it all was that if he let a fist fly, there was no telling what would happen. Shougo knew that Yamato wasn’t above killing, he was a foot-soldier in a gang after all, so he knew that one wrong step could lead to an early grave. “Oh, I know... All too well actually. I’ve been watching you pretty closely for a while; even had extra eyes watching you at all times. You seem pretty head over heels, letting some runt tame you so easily. So loyal that you can’t even lay with another no matter how hard you try. Yes, he’s far from some toy.” Haizaki didn’t say a word as he saw a dangerous gleam dance in Yamato’s eyes; his own eyes burning with barely contained hostility. “You seem pretty concerned about him all the time. You even went out of your way, still hungover, to get him a milkshake to make up for last night. He seems to be your soft-spot, a weakness….” “Touch him and I’ll make sure you don’t have hands to touch him again.”, Shougo finally ground out as his grey eyes flashed with a fury Yamato had never seen in his gaze before. The brunette put his hands up in front of him in fake surrender as he took a few steps back. “Hai,hai. No need to be so protective.” This statement did nothing to ease Haizaki’s nerves as he felt there was something else the older wasn’t telling him. “I won’t touch him, I promise.”, Shougo gave him a snarl, “I won’t! ...But...Someone else will though.” I look of pure terror crossed Haizaki’s features at this new information, his eyes immediately darting down the sidewalk towards Kuroko’s apartment. He heard Yamato chuckle lowly again drawing his attention back for a few moments. “I’m little disappointed in you to be honest. Everyone knows that you shouldn’t leave valuables unattended... more often than not they get stolen.” That was all Haizaki needed to hear before he dropped the milkshake and burger in his hands and sped towards Tetsuya’s, all the while praying that it was all a bluff. - Kuroko let out a yawn as he quickly threw on a white t-shirt along with a pair of black sweats. There had been frantic and loud knocking on the front door and he could only imagine that it was none other than Haizaki Shougo. The teen took his time in walking to his destination, shaking his head to rid of the droplets still clinging to his hair. Shougo had left him waiting for about an hour or two now so he didn’t feel the need to rush in the least. The hard knocks came again and this time his brow furrowed with slight irritation. Without even checking through the peep-hole Tetsuya flung open the door only for a figure in all-black to lunge forward and clamp a hand over the bluenette's mouth, pushing him backwards into the apartment. Panic flashed across the small teen’s features as it finally registered in his mind that he was in danger. As if a switch had gone off, Kuroko struggled with more vigor than his attacker had expected. He clawed desperately at the man’s face and arms as he wildly kicked his legs out in an attempt to get free, all the while the grip on his mouth tightening as the man reached into his back pocket and took out a syringe. A rush of adrenaline rushed through the bluenette as his left leg, by absolute luck, slammed between the large man’s thighs. A muffled groan sounded through the man’s skimask as he sunk to his knees, allowing Kuroko to wrench himself free and make a beeline for the kitchen. The poor teen could hardly even breathe as he bounded over to the far counter that held the knife block, grabbing at random as he heard heavy footsteps coming towards him. Tetsuya couldn’t turn around fast enough though; a hand firmly gripping his hair and slamming his face into the counter with enough force to have the shadow dazed and seeing stars. In his disoriented state, the bluenette could feel his grip on the knife slackening and the blunt object being taken from his hand. With a hand still buried into his scalp, Kuroko was quickly turned around to face the assailant; Panic starting up in him anew as the syringe full of god knows what came into sight again. “Nearly gave me a run for my money, didntcha?”, a low voice said with a sick tone of amusement in his voice. The teen shuddered at the sound of subtle laughter as he kept his eyes glued to the sharp object until blood blurred his vision in his left eye, hiding the syringe from sight and making Tetsuya begin to struggle again. The effort was futile now that he was weakened by such a heavy blow to his head, the world already spinning around him. His feeble struggling was enough to hinder his attacker enough to the point where he could no longer keep the syringe in his hand steady though. Sadly for Tetsuya this was a victory short lived as a fist slammed into the right side of his face with so much force the his world went black and ringing sounded in his ears. "Struggling is just gonna make everything a lot harder for everyone, so just quit fighting me already.", the man said with irritation evident in his voice as the bluenette finally stilled in his dazed state. Everything else after that was a blurr. Tetsuya vaguely felt fingers touch the side of his neck, most likely checking to make sure that the needle missed a major artery. He felt absolute dread fill his very bones, but could make no movements, his world still dark though his eyes were wide open. After a few more moments helplessness begin to make an appearance as he realized that there was nothing left that he could do. His body wasn’t even listening to him, so yelling was not even an option. Tetsuya just braced himself, prepared for the prick of the needle that was sure to come. He braced himself, but felt no prick in his neck as he suddenly dropped to the floor due to his attacker not holding him up anymore. The bluenette could vaguely hear some shuffling; it sounded more like a struggle as grunting and growling sounded somewhere distantly. Tetsuya listened to the sounds for about a minute or so before his mind seemed to reboot; the world becoming louder and louder before vision returned to Tetsu’s eyes. The world was blurry at first, but as they adjusted he saw a familiar head of grey hair. Immediately he knew by the heavy curses and growling that the man currently under the black-clad attacker was none other than Haizaki Shougo. It took around another full minute before the small teen realized that the small- forward was not winning the battle between the two; a knife being pushed back just barely out of reach as the man above him put all his weight into the butt of the knife and forced it downwards. Haizaki’s arms were already shaking and beginning to buckle. He was running out of time and quickly. Tetsuya quickly looked around for anything of use before a shiny object on the floor caught his attention; the syringe. Before the teen could really think about what he was doing, he grabbed the plastic needle and quickly scrambled over to the unknown attacker. Without giving the man as much time as to even realize his presence, which was luckily a hard feat in itself, he stabbed the syringe into the man’s shoulder and pushed the liquid into his body. Kuroko felt relief go through his body for a split second before the man’s attention turned back to him, knife raised and ready to strike. The liquid was taking longer than expected to take effect, probably due to the fact that he hadn’t put the injection in his neck. The bluenette didn’t waste a second in rising on his unsteady legs and reversing back into the back counter; the boy's movements clumsy but still capable. When the unknown assailant tried to rise to his feet on shaky legs a firm hand grasped his ankle and sent him falling face-first to the ground; his body already beginning to slow due to the injection was too slow to immediately try and catch his fall. The man hit the floor hard, dazing him enough for Shougo to quickly disarm him and keep his arms firmly behind his back. “Tetsuya, get some duct-tape or something, quick!”, Haizaki said sharply as he felt the man under him begin to struggle. With his body still running on adrenaline, Kuroko pulled open a nearby drawer with more force than necessary and practically threw the tape at Shougo. Luckily the male caught the roll and easily began to bind the male’s wrists with the surprisingly strong material. When the older male was sure that there was no way that the man was gonna get away he quickly fell back off of the man and pushed himself back into a nearby wall; panting as he was finally allowed a moment to relax and catch his breath. “Holy fuck... “, Haizaki murmured as he let his head fall back. He’d nearly died not even two minutes ago and the weight of that was finally sinking in along with a sudden feeling of exhaustion. When he finally calmed down enough to be able to asses the situation, he was vaguely aware of panting coming from to the left of him. When he looked over he was met with a very bloodied and very panicked Tetsuya. His pupils were blown as his body wracked with violent shudders and not to mention all the blood. Some of it was running down his face from a wound to his forehead and even more from a deep cut on his cheek that was already bruising heavily. Quickly Haizaki crawled over and panickedly looked the smaller over and peered into his eyes that seemed to be looking completely past him. “Tetsuya!” No response. “Oi, Snap out of it already!” Still no change. “You’re fine! He won’t hurt you again! I’m here, right in front of you! Look at me, dammit!” This seemed to bring the teen back as his eyes flickered back into the present and his breathing gradually slowed. He held Shougo’s gaze the whole time as the dull pain from his injuries began to set in. “It hurts.”, Kuroko said with a weirdly unconcerned voice as his face pulled into a grimace. The smaller teen let his head fall forward into the taller male’s chest as his head began to swim again. “Shit. Fuck!”, Shougo began to panic again as blood soaked into his shirt heavily. He had a passed out fucking assassin on the floor next to him and now he had to deal with a possibly bleeding to death Tetsuya. Pulling his phone out of his back pocket he dialed the one number he’d always vowed he’d never call. The line rang a total of two times before someone picked up. “Someone broke into my friend’s apartment. The guy is tied up, but my friend is pretty banged up.”, Shougo said hurriedly without waiting for the dispatcher to speak first. “Sir, I need you to calmly tell me where you are.” Haizaki quickly told the dispatcher everything she needed to know before the woman on the other end assured him that help was on the way. Kuroko was pretty much out and Haizaki vaguely remembered hearing that you shouldn’t let someone with a possible concussion sleep. The teen violently shook the small teen awake as Tetsuya looked up at him dazedly. “I need you to stay awake… Can you do that for me?”, Shougo asked seriously. Kuroko nodded dumbly and simply let his eyes fall closed again, completely disregarding the older teen’s words as he fell into a deep sleep. ***** Chapter 9 ***** Chapter Notes Sorry for the long wait guys! I had a lot of things going on along with getting settled back into the whole school-routine so I haven't really had the time *insert sweatdrop* Updates will be kinda slow for both my fics, so just know that I'm not planning on abandoning them and leaving you on a cliff-hanger. Anyways, here you go! There might be a few mistakes since it's so late right now, but I'll get them fixed as soon as possible if there are. (^-^) - Kuroko groaned as he finally came to, his world blurry and unfocused. The teen vaguely heard the sound of steady beeping to the left of him and he could only guess by that and the sterile smelling atmosphere, that he was in a hospital. For what? At the moment the bluenette couldn’t remember for the life of him. Tetsuya decided he’d cross that bridge when he got to it, his head starting to reel from his effort in trying to remember what actually landed him in the hospital of all places. It took a long minute, but Kuroko’s eyes did eventually focus. The first thing that Tetsuya saw clearly was the heart monitor he’d been hearing this whole time, the green line jumping steadily alongside his heartbeat. He stared at it blankly for a few moments until he heard slight shifting from the right of him. With much difficulty, the bluenette turned his head to the other side. The short teen felt so unbearably heavy and achy, that he actually felt like crying at how miserable he felt. When his head finally flopped to the other side, he was met by a mop of messy grey hair. Shougo had stayed with him, he didn’t know how long but he hadn’t abandoned him. Again with more effort than it should have took, the bluenette reached to fix the older teen’s messy hair. Haizaki had fixed his hair more times than he could count, so he found it only fair that he help him with his messy hair too. Before he was anywhere near finished, his movements clumsy probably due to painkillers, the taller teen’s eyes opened. The older male was obviously as dazed as Tetsuya was when he’d first awoken too, but as soon as he realized where he was he shot up like an arrow; alert and panicked until he saw the slight smile grazing Kuroko’s lips. It took a moment for Haizaki to calm again as he looked the teen over carefully. “The doctors say you have a pretty bad concussion.”, Shougo said softly as his eyes rested on the bandaging around the bluenette’s head. Kuroko watched the older teen silently as the taller male’s eyebrows furrowed at the deep, dark purple bruise on his right cheek. The shorter teen quickly concluded that he didn’t look so good and the bluenette irritatingly couldn’t remember why. As if on queue a rush of blurred scenes flashed through his mind, his brain reeling at the sudden onslaught of memory. The distant, dazed, and shocked look on Tetsuya’s face was enough to worry Haizaki again as he stood up and grasped the bluenette’s shoulder tightly to bring him back. Shougo sighed with relief when blue eyes blinked back to the present. “Quit fucking scaring me like that. I’ve been on my toes all damn night and I really…really just want a minute to sit down and let this all sink in.”, Haizaki said in an exhausted tone. “...What…What happened?”, Kuroko asked as he silently looked over Shougo, searching for any injury. Haizaki let out another long sigh. “That guy that snuck into your apartment is currently in jail and is gonna be taken in for questioning tomorrow. I know who the person behind this all is: Yamato. He’s been avoiding the cops for years and over some serious shit, so telling the cops anything would be bad. This guy has ears everywhere, even within the system. If word gets out that we said anything to them about him being involved, everything will just get ten times worse. I told them that we have no clue who would be behind this and what the motive was. They came up with a possible robbery scenario and i’m pretty sure that story will stick because Yamato’s circle rides hard for him.” Kuroko’s eyes showed slight anger as he finally spoke up again. “We need to tell them, Shougo-kun, how will we be able to fix this if-” “No.”, Haizaki said firmly, cutting him off, “ Do not and I mean do NOT breathe a word of this to anyone. Not Aomine, not your mom, and definitely not Akashi.” “Then what do we do then?”, Kuroko said calmly, which was weird given the situation. Haizaki took another deep breath as his hands pushed back his hair; messing it all up again. “Fuck, I don’t have a clue Tetsuya. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do ever since you passed out for three damn hours.If Akashi hadn’t have found him and fucking cut out his damn eye then this wouldn’t be happening!” Tetsuya watched silently as Haizaki paced back and forth; his hair being ruffled again and again by his hands. It took him a long few moments but then it clicked. Akashi could help them! If Seijuro had found this slippery brunette so easily then he must have underground connections. Every rich family had them, so there was no surprise there. If Akashi was able to track down the teen that wasn’t able to be caught for serious crimes within a few days, as he’d told Kuroko during their little talk next to the school grounds, then he was their only hope for fixing this. “Akashi-kun can help. I need my phone so I can call him.”, the bluenette said firmly. Shougo froze up at that and looked over to the teen in panic. “What is it that you don’t understand about this, Tetsuya? We could die if we tell ANYONE about this.”, He nearly yelled, thankful for the lack of security cameras and the presence of sound-proofed walls. “Akashi-kun was able to find Yamato in a few days after what happened. He told me that day he kissed me by the school grounds. He told me that Yamato had been punished for what he did as soon as he found out about what had happened. The police haven’t been able to find him, so Akashi-kun is our best shot. Chances are that he already knows all about it; he has more eyes than Yamato has.”, Tetsuya explained. Shougo was quiet for a few long moments. If Akashi was able to find out about what had happened before, then he surely already knew what was happening now. “He hates me. He’ll kill me himself or leave me to be picked off by Yamato the second he sees me.”, Haizaki said, his eyes averting from the younger’s. “Akashi-kun may hate you, but if I give the word he won’t lay a finger on you. I may have to give in order for this to happen, but he’ll let you stay if I demand that I want you with me.” “Wait. What do you mean give?”, Shougo asked, slight anger already showing in his expression. “I might have to satisfy his cravings every once in awhile. It’s not a complete guarantee, but regardless I know Akashi-kun wouldn’t do something for you for absolutely nothing in return.” With no hesitation Haizaki gave his input on that comment. “No. Fuck no! You’re not going to sell your body to keep me with you.”, the grey-haired teen hissed. Kuroko actually sighed in irritation as he tried to explain further. “Like I said: It’s not guaranteed. I doubt he’d take me if he knew I didn’t want it, but he could do just that anyway. Or maybe he’d want to toy with you instead. If I say not to then he won’t hurt you, but you might have to put up with his other ways of ‘punishing you’.” “And what are these other ways?” “He might demand you give him services or give him your body completely for him to use anyway he seems fit, while not going against my demands. He may pay someone else to use your body or he might use it himself. It’s either going to be you or me who has to give in order to ask of anything.” Haizaki sat back down on the chair next to the bed and let his head fall back so he was staring at the ceiling. A tense silence filled the air as Shougo let all this information settle in his head. “This is fucking crazy…”, he said as he pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and threw it on the bed beside Tetsuya. Kuroko didn’t know whether he was referring to the situation as a whole or possibly having to let himself be submissive to Akashi and have no say in what he can and can’t do to him or Tetsuya if they wanted help. “Yes, it is. But this is the first step to making all better. The sooner we call, the sooner Akashi-kun can take care of it.” “And how does he intend to fix it?”, Haizaki asked quietly. Tetsuya made a slight face of distaste as he thought of just how someone like Seijuro would take care of something like this after already giving a warning. “Akashi-kun probably already warned him to keep his hands off me, which is probably why he ordered someone else to do the dirty work for him. Akashi-kun doesn’t give second warnings to people who have already tested his patience. He’ll kill him or torture him and then kill him. He wouldn’t kill him by his own hand, no, he’d pay someone else to do it while he interrogated and commanded the men he paid to hurt him anyway he saw fit.” Haizaki was shocked at how much information Tetsuya held in his head. Before he thought Tetsuya to be a clueless and helpless little runt, but the bluenette was proving to be more intelligent than he could ever hope to be in his lifetime. “Yamato could have gotten away with what he’d just done had he not said anything to you. That’s his only fault. Or maybe he intended for us both to be kidnapped, which is why he told you in the first place but wasn’t counting on how long it’d take for me to be injected and for you to get there so the man could get ready to attack you on your way in. He’s smart, but not as smart as he thinks he is.”, Kuroko concluded. It was easy to see why Seijuro was so taken with this little teen. His mind worked in interesting ways, unravelling every mystery only using that individual’s personality and every possible motive. As Haizaki looked at him awestruck, the bluenette began to dial the redhead’s number. “It’s Tetsuya…. I guessed you knew already…. Yes I am fine, but we need your help…..What about Shougo-kun?....”, Anger showed like electricity in Kuroko’s eyes as he received his answer to the question. “I won’t go if you won’t take him too.” “Well then what do you intend to do without my help?”, Akashi replied calmly. “I don’t know, but I can’t leave him to die. He saved my life and that can’t go without being repaid, you know that. Your eyes didn’t do as much as lift a finger in order to help me, but Shougo-kun did. If I’m so important to you then you owe him for saving something of your’s.” There was silence on the line for a few moments. “Fine, But as soon as he steps out of line, he’s gone. I do expect something in return for my help, using my underground lines are not cheap, so I suggest you and Shougo be willing and ready to give in to my demands.”, Seijuro replied. “What is it that you want?”, Kuroko asked tensely. “Nothing too insane or painful; pleasurable if you two play along accordingly.” Tetsuya had been afraid of this, but it seemed like a small sacrifice if he weighed it against the value of their lives. “Understood. I’ll let him know.” “Good, I’ll be there to pick you up in less than an hour; I’m luckily in the area.”, Akashi said before hanging up. Tetsuya let out a long sigh as he set the cellphone down. How to tell Haizaki…. “What? What the fuck did he say?”, Shougo asked, his eyes wide and waiting. “I was right that he’d want something along those lines in return for what he’s doing for us… except for the part where he expects services from us both. I’m not sure if he really intends to take you himself or pay someone else to do it for him yet, so you have it worse than I do.”, Kuroko explained. “Are you fucking serious? I’m not going to do any gay shit! I’ll take care of myself!”, Shougo exploded as Tetsuya made a weird face. “...You seemed pretty ready to last night, why is this any different?” “Dammit! It’s different! I’m not gay, but you? I’d… dammit! I can’t do this Tetsuya.” The bluenette could sense the uncertainty and confusion in the older teen’s voice. Kuroko knew that Haizaki was definitely attracted to him, but by the way he had just reacted he could tell that he was an exception. Shougo was straight, but not when it came to him. “It’s our lives we’re talking about here Shougo-kun. Besides, if you won’t go I won’t go. I wouldn’t be able to do it.” Haizaki was officially backed into a corner. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Tetsuya got hurt because he was too prideful to receive help at a minor price. “Fine. I’ll go.” - When Akashi finally arrived, he had a calm aura about him and took everything into his own hands. It felt inanely less stifling for Shougo when someone took charge and did so with sure and carefully thought out steps. The redhead obviously knew what he was doing and possibly had it all planned out already. After everything with the hospital was settled, Seijuro led the pair to his limousine and ushered them in quickly. They had hardly even settled in before Akashi began speaking. “I’ve already been searching for Yamato for two hours. I’ve been plunging into my connections, but he’s either in hiding or paying and threatening people to keep their mouths shut. He can’t hide forever and you can bet that I can pay twice as much for the information he wants kept a secret, so I’m not too worried about any of that yet. Tetsuya, you have a bad concussion so you will be spending all of your time recovering until you get better. Shougo, on the other hand, you will be starting your repayment to me by tomorrow so sleep well tonight.” Haizaki looked like he was going to say something, but then found that he was to tired to even throw out a ‘fuck you’ in response.They had a long drive ahead of them since Akashi didn’t live close to the general area and the grey-haired teen preferred it to be a quiet one. The ash-haired troublemaker looked out of his window silently, watching the lights of the city flash by as Tetsuya talked quietly to Seijuro about stopping by both Shougo and Kuroko’s apartment to grab a few necessities. The older teen wasn’t surprised when Akashi refused saying that he could send someone to their homes to grab what they needed later tomorrow. Haizaki didn’t feel any particular way about it. It was dangerous to go back anyways, so he had no complaints. The teen was content with being quiet for once. He got to finally relax after going on the most insane emotional rollercoaster of his life. At some point during the ride, Tetsuya fell asleep again and slumped against the taller teen beside him. Usually the ash-haired teen hated unnecessary physical contact, but he found the bluenette’s presence calming and even reassuring. He wasn’t alone in this; Kuroko was right there with him living out the same sucky scenario. As he looked over to look at the younger teen’s sleeping face, his eyes were captured by fiery red ones calmly observing him. They held the awkward eye-contact until Shougo averted his eyes. In this silent moment, the taller teen had surrendered any dominance he still had in him and submitted. Haizaki could hear a slight chuckle come from the shorter redhead and felt something in his stomach knot in a way that he thought he was going to throw up. Whatever was going through the captain’s head right now meant nothing good for him. When they finally arrived at the mansion it was nearly one in the morning. Shougo was bone-tired and even so had to carry in Kuroko since he refused to stir from his fitful sleep. He cursed at the size of the damn place as he followed the redhead in front of him to where they’d be staying for the night. As soon as they made it to the front door, which took a long time to reach might he add, maids were bustling about trying to make everything ready for their arrival under Seijuro’s orders. Akashi barked out a couple more orders before he beckoned Shougo to follow him up a flight of stairs. Haizaki was more than irritated at this and even more so when they walked two more flights, all the while whilst carrying Tetsuya. Akashi then led him down a long corridor to a room at the very end of it. He opened the door and jerked his head towards the big king sized bed on the far side of it, it’s headboard half-covering a huge window. “This is where Tetsuya will be staying.”, he stated evenly as Shougo set down his heavy load and pulled the covers over it. “The bed is big enough for two, so I don’t need a different room. He won’t like that I left him all alone. He’ll wanna stick extremely close for awhile until he feels somewhat safe again”, Haizaki replied back tiredly. “You’ll be right across the hall.”, Seijuro immediately said back leaving no room for argument. The ash-haired teen looked at the bed and back at Akashi a total of three times, his mind feeling extremely torn until he forced his body to move towards the door. The pair heard slight stirring behind them but didn’t pay any mind until a little tired whine sounded from the back of the bluenette’s throat. “Where are you going, Shougo-kun?”, the small teen asked confusedly. “Just across the hall, Tetsuya.”, Haizaki replied, his voice sounding just as exhausted. There was a short pause before Kuroko responded. “Oh. You’re coming back right?”, The teen said his eyes growing wide with slight panic. The look was seriously doing something to the ash-haired teen’s insides as he averted his eyes from the smaller teen’s. “I think it’d be more appropriate for you two to have your own rooms.”, Akashi said evenly as more shifting sounded from the bed. “No this is fine. You can’t put him in another room. Please Akashi-kun, let him stay!”, Tetsuya said, his voice rising as he woke up completely. The panic in the shorter teen’s voice was enough of an indicator that even if Seijuro put Haizaki in a room all the way on the other side of the mansion, then Tetsuya would simply get up to find him and sleep with the older teen. Without a word Akashi left the room, a silent word of approval as he shut the door behind him. “You can lay back down, Tetsuya, I’m not going anywhere.”, Shougo said as he saw that the smaller teen was still tens. The bluenette relaxed and let himself fall back into the huge, unnecessarily big pillows behind him with a tired yawn. It had been a long night and that last little burst of energy he’d just put out was enough to now completely exhaust him. Without any further hesitation Haizaki joined the smaller teen in the huge bed, moving Tetsuya over a little bit in order to move him from the center of the bed. With a huge sigh Shougo slid into bed and like a switch, he felt himself already drifting to sleep. Before he was entirely gone though, he felt the warm pressure of Tetsuya’s back against his own. The teen had moved back in order to huddle up next to the taller teen and again the ash-haired power forward felt a sense of calmness run over him as he finally drifted off. ***** Chapter 10 ***** Chapter Notes Sorry for the mix-up with the chapters earlier lmfao Here's the real chap guys! Enjoy! - Haizaki opened his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar room. Everything felt surreal, like everything that had ever happened before now was a dream and he was just now waking up. Light filtered in from the windows in the room lazily as birds sung outside. It was weirdly quiet and peaceful, but right now Shougo didn’t want to ruin his momentary peace. He felt light, like not one of his troubles could reach him. He was safe here in this temporary salvation with Tetsuya plastered to his side. Haizaki wanted to stay here forever, in his own little world, but life called to him from the other side of the door. The soft-footsteps of other life lingered outside the heavy wood as maids and butlers went about their daily routine. Slowly reality was sinking in and with it brought the weight and stress of what was happening. They were safe here, but not really. Shougo’s world didn’t revolve around just him and Kuroko, not anymore, for Akashi was lurking at the edges of it. A sour taste filled the ash-haired teen’s mouth as he thought about what the redhaired teen had in store for him. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. The ash-haired teen was jerked from his thoughts when the bluenette beside him stirred and opened his sky-blue eyes slowly. Instantly all the older teen’s worries slipped away. The sun from the windows lit up the smaller teen’s hair and illuminated his face making him look nothing less than angelic. Of course he’d never breathe a word of it to him, but Haizaki had never seen such a beautiful person in his life. He looked like serenity herself. Shougo let a slow sigh slip through his lips as he gazed down at the smaller teen who was staring back at him squarely. Tetsuya was safe. There was no reason to worry. In order to keep him that way, Haizaki would take what was coming to him without much complaint. Closing his eyes, the ash-haired delinquent let his head fall forward slowly until his forehead was against Kuroko’s. He could feel the smaller teen’s heartbeat thudding against his broad chest at the sudden show of affection. He was being uncharacteristic of himself, but he guessed situations such as these could make anyone act out of character. A sense of calm flooded Shougo’s senses as he let himself fall back into a place where reality didn’t reach him. The silence was broken about a minute or two later by a soft, but urgent sounding knock at the door. “Breakfast is nearly ready and master Seijuro has asked that you two be down there and dressed by the time it’s done. He’ll be waiting for you there.”, a maid said as she opened the door and put a pile of folded clothes on the ground inside of it before walking out to carry out her other duties for the day. Haizaki growled in frustration at having to be pulled away from his haven so soon after waking up, but didn’t voice his irritation as he got up. Tetsuya let out one of his cute little yawns before trying to get up himself. Pain suddenly surged into his body when he did so though, making him let out a noise of surprise and hurt. The sound alerted the other male in the room immediately as Kuroko began to feel his injuries he’d received last night. He was bruised and aching from head to toe and his legs shook with the effort of holding his weight. “Just lay back down, Tetsuya, you can’t go like this. Akashi wants you to get better just as much as I do, so I’m sure he won’t mind.”, Haizaki said as he urged the other to get back in bed with the soft pressure of a hand on his chest, pushing the smaller teen back. The bluenette didn’t fight much as he let himself fall back onto the bed. He held reluctance in his eyes though as he crawled back under the covers. He had no idea what Seijuro would do to Shougo when he wasn’t there and there was no doubt in his mind that the redhead would use this as the perfect moment to pounce. “Shougo-kun. I-” “Don’t worry, I’ll come back. I promise.”, Haizaki shushed the shorter teen. “No, Shougo-kun. Just… Be careful about what you say and do.” The ash-haired teen looked the smaller in the eye and saw the anxiety lying within their blue depths. He nodded firmly, his face serious before he moved to start getting ready. Kuroko watched the teen as he walked to the bathroom adjoining their room as he prayed Shougo would heed his warning. In the bathroom Haizaki found two brand new toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder and two towels on the towel-rack next to the shower. He breathed a short thanks to god at this, worried he wouldn’t be able to shower and brush his teeth today. It had been far too long since he’d done those things and he was starting to feel extremely dirty and disgusting. Quickly he stripped himself of his clothes and jumped into the shower. The water felt amazing and he was irked that he had to leave it’s warmth so soon. Haizaki then quickly brushed his teeth while drying off and then walked back to the other room to change into the clothes that were provided to him. The teen felt smug when he felt Tetsuya’s wandering eyes glance at him from across the room, but he didn’t speak on it until he was fully dressed and about to walk out the door to leave. “I’ll give you a closer look when I come back if you want, Tetsuya.”, Haizaki said teasingly as the bluenette’s face instantly turned red and he sunk down into the bed in obvious shame at being caught. Shougo chuckled at the reaction and went downstairs to find the dining room. -   The ash-haired teen felt intimidated. He felt so out of place, like he wasn’t meant to gaze upon this life ever in his lifetime. He felt the eyes of maids and butlers follow him down the hall. They were interested in him, but they kept their distance and observed him from afar like some kind of wild animal. Usually Shougo would have asked what the hell they were looking at and threw some colorful words at them just to see them look indignant at his words and violent attitude, but he found he had no energy or want to do so. Though Haizaki’s look screamed ‘delinquent’, his demeanor screamed ‘declawed’. The ash-haired teen was tamed by his responsibility in keeping Tetsuya safe behind these walls and by Akashi’s rein of power over him. Shougo was completely lost in the labyrinth of a home Seijuro until a maid finally took enough pity on him and led him to the dining room. When they arrived, Haizaki was surprised to not see Akashi anywhere. He gave the maid behind him a questioning look before she bowed her head and turned to leave. “Wait! Can you bring Tetsuya something to eat. He’s not feeling good enough to get out of bed yet.”, Haizaki said, realizing that the shorter teen must be starving by now. The maid was shocked by the sudden outburst , but nodded her head nonetheless and moved to grab a plate and load some food onto it. Pleased by the fact that she hadn’t refused the request, Haizaki finally sat down and grabbed some food for himself. He hadn’t eaten in twenty-four hours and then some, so naturally he was ravenous. The teen didn’t care for manners at all right now and was glad that no one was here to look at him disapprovingly as he gorged himself fitfully. Within fifteen minutes the buffet of food that was easily made for three people had been nearly devoured by the small forward. Stuffed and happy, the teen leaned back in his chair. He was thinking of finally returning to the room and giving Kuroko a closer look at his muscled body just to poke fun at him when a butler entered the room and looked at him expectantly. The butler was wrinkled with greying hair and his face was neutral, as expected of a butler. He smelled faintly of a nearly feminine cologne and also of ash and smoke. The butler most likely spent his days tending to fireplaces around the mansion due to the bitter autumn chill that was beginning to settle on the land, but it was still an unsettling smell. Haizaki didn’t have much of a reason to be suspicious of this man, but he felt goosebumps raise on his skin at the man’s presence. “Come with me.”, is all the butler said, his age showing in his voice as well. Before Shougo could ask where he was taking him, the man had turned and walked out of the room already. Scrambling up the ash-haired teen ran to catch up with him. He followed silently and obediently up staircases, down halls, through doors until they stopped in front of a room clear on the other end of the mansion. This part of the place was deserted of any maids or butlers. It seemed darker here and almost like the setting of a scary movie. The gloomy look of the place made him uneasy, but he didn’t think to run back to the other end of the mansion. “In here.”, the butler said, moving out of the way to let the younger male in first. Haizaki swallowed nervously as he steeled his nerves. Telling himself that it was nothing and nothing was going to happen, he stepped inside. Upon walking in the room he found it empty besides for a bed and some questionable things on the dresser. Before he could shoot a questioning look at the butler behind him, a cloth pressed into his face firmly. Out of shock, the teen took a sharp intake of breath. He instantly realized his mistake as he felt the chemicals burn the back of his throat and nose as his world went black. - Tetsuya gasped as he woke up from a nightmare. He was shaking and sweating, his heart racing as he suddenly began to feel scared for Shougo. He had a feeling something wasn’t right, but it could just still be the effects of his dream. But on the other hand, he felt as if there was really something happening in some dark corner of the mansion. Somewhere far enough to where no one, not even the bluenette himself could hear anything. Somewhere far enough to where Kuroko’s legs wouldn’t be able to carry him. That was the bitter feeling that he got, yet he couldn’t do anything. Whatever it was that was happening, Tetsuya could do nothing about. Akashi was going to do what Akashi wanted to do, within the agreement of course, but the redhead sure knew how to push a boundary. When Shougo returned, he’d be able to rest easy. Or maybe not. Chances are, Seijuro would return him broken. For a moment the blue-eyed teen couldn’t decide whether he wanted Haizaki to leave or stay. There was a lot of pros and cons on both ends, but staying here was obviously the best choice. Tetsuya sighed. His food that had been brought to him before had remained uneaten. His worry and uncertainty at being able to keep it down anyways rendering him unable to touch it. Either Akashi or Shougo would force him to eat later on, so he decided he wouldn’t need to eat it. Though he didn’t want to eat, he found himself getting restless. The bluenette couldn’t go far in his condition, but he felt the need to get up and do something. The teen needed to look around in every corner and every hidden place. Tetsuya needed both to find places that would be ideal for hiding in if things went bad and also to find what room Akashi was planning on having his fun in. He knew the place and it’s inhabitants well, but he didn’t know all of the massive home and in order to feel safe he’d need to know more about it. Before he could get up though, another maid came in to check on him and take his plates away. She looked at the still full plates disapprovingly, but said nothing about it. She knew the little thing ate like a bird and it was useless to make him eat when he didn’t want to. The brunette sighed and handed him a note. “It’s from the master.”, She explained before she walked out with the plates in hand. Tetsuya looked to make sure the door had closed completely before he looked at the note. ‘Stay in the room. I’ll know if you’ve been out and about when you shouldn’t be. You need to recover and snooping around won’t help you do so faster. - Akashi Seijuro Kuroko crumpled up the note and threw it to the ground in spite. The older teen knew him well. It’d be harder trying to find every hidden secret in the home with all the extra eyes and Seijuro knowing exactly what he was up to. Luckily the bluenette loved a good challenge. He very much liked to exceed the redhead’s expectations and the redhead very much liked when Kuroko managed to wriggle out of his grasp. Akashi couldn’t gain full control of the little teen and that was what drew him to Tetsuya. He was an odd little creature and Seijuro loved to test his intelligence when the chance arose. If it was a game he wanted to play, Tetsuya would play.   - Haizaki woke with a start. His head was throbbing painfully and his vision was slightly fuzzy. The light from the window had been gentle and light, but it was now harsh and unrelenting. His arms felt numb, the buzzing feeling starting to travel to his shoulder blades. Then it hit him: His arms were tied to the headboard. Shougo struggled against his binds to find that they were tied extremely well and there was no chance of escape unless his captor decided to set him free. The teen’s breath came out in sharp gasps as he quickly realized he had not one article of clothing on. Was that butler working for Yamato? Was he going to die here in this damn room he’d so stupidly let himself be walked to? The teen continued to struggle violently until a voice to the right of him finally spoke. “Don’t struggle too much, Shougo. You’ll hurt yourself.” Haizaki actually found himself relieved when he found the voice to be his ex- captain’s light, but authoritative voice rather than Yamato’s deep and dangerous one, but that feeling of relief didn’t last long. “What the hell, Akashi! Did you really have that creepy ass butler chloroform me? And why the fuck do you have to tie me up, you fucking psychopath!? I can take my own clothes off too, I didn’t need anyone’s help!”, Haizaki cried out indignantly. “So are you going to tell me you would have willingly let me toy with you?”, Akashi asked, busying himself with setting up everything he had in store for the ash-haired teen. Shougo was silent at that. He’d never want to willingly give himself to the redhead, not in a million years. “It’s easier for both of us this way. Now tell me... have you ever been with a man before?”, The redhead asked, his eyes still focus on what he was doing. “What? Fuck no!”, Haizaki hissed as his body tensed. “No need to get so defensive. I’m just wondering how new or experienced you are with men. Also, you’re not carrying anything are you?”, Seijuro asked his eyes burning into Shougo’s and daring him to lie to him. “No. I’m not fucking carrying anything. I’m smart enough to wear a condom, idiot!” The shorter teen didn’t answer to the insult as his eyes went back to the task at hand. Haizaki swallowed thickly as he saw what the teen was so focused on; a pink dildo with a switch on the bottom end of it. “...Hey, you aren’t gonna just…”, Shougo asked with an edge in his voice. “No we’ll prepare you first, but we’re nowhere near that part.”, Seijuro replied as he put the dildo on the dresser and stood up from his chair by the side of the bed. Haizaki felt extremely intimidated and vulnerable, naked and at the other’s mercy. He wanted to run as far as possible from this damn place, but Yamato would probably toy with him before he killed him anyways so he endured the predatory look the captain was giving him as the clothed male walked around the the foot of the bed. “Hmmm...From this position you don’t look so bad looking…”, Akashi said lowly as he trailed a finger from Haizaki’s leg just above the knee to his bony hip as he walked up the left side of the bed. Shougo shivered at the contact, his breath hitching and the insult on his tongue dying instantly. This was really happening, Seijuro was really going to go through with this. “You know, you always irked me. Going against my orders and never showing up to practice…”, Akashi said smoothly as he looked down at the heaving chest below him. Shougo’s breath hitched again when a hand came down to graze across his chest, slowly and deliberately, from one side to the other. The touch ran electricity through him, his fear making his senses heighten considerably and making him feel and hear everything. “Now I’ll finally be able to force you into submission.”, Akashi growled as he jerked Haizaki’s head up by his chin, forcing the teen below to look up at him. ‘You know, you always piss me off. You never show up to practice and I always have to be the one to drag you there… I have ways of dealing with that...’ Shougo eyes widened at the words that had run through his mind as his heart raced. Shougo recognized the voice, but couldn’t yet put a name on it. His breath was picking up again slightly until Haizaki regained some control over himself and tried to use Seijuro’s eyes to bring him back. While still trying to regain himself a hand traveled back to his chest, but this time it dragged itself lower, as if praising the expanse of his skin. Shougo inhaled slowly as the hand passed slowly over his navel, inching it’s way bit by bit towards it’s goal. He expected him to stop, but Akashi pressed on and he lifted his hand up slightly as he ghosted his hand over the teen’s member. Haizaki felt himself twitch slightly along with a sudden burst of revulsion. Everything about this seemed familiar and some sort of sick deja vu was slowly sinking onto him. “You seem to react well to this even though you claim to have never done this before… Or maybe you were into this sort of thing before, but just with women. Hmmm...You don’t strike me as the type that would want to be dominated.”, Seijuro said as he climbed onto the bed and over Haizaki, his arms caging him in and his groin pressed against Shougo’s. The teen under wasn’t expecting this at all as his eyes widened at the close proximity of the redhead. Haizaki wanted to scream, wanted to push him away, but his body refused to listen to him. He had a weird feeling that if he moved he’d be hit again. Wait...again? “Strange... Why is it that you aren’t resisting me?”, Seijuro asked, a twisted curiosity falling over him as he rocked his hips against Shougo’s slowly, teasingly. The ash-haired teen gasped again and closed his eyes tightly. His body was starting to slowly react to the stimulation even though he didn’t want it. Why? He was so disgusted, yet he got hard anyways. “Is it that you like this? Do you like being a personal play thing, Shougo?”, Akashi asked, his tone carrying an interested lit to it. ‘You like that? I bet you like being my personal fuck thing... You’re not even resisting me anymore.’ The voice was back again, murmuring those disgusting things to him. All in that familiar voice… Akashi continued to move his hips against Shougo’s now fully erect member as he reached toward the dresser. The ash-haired teen tried to ignore it, to block it all out and focus just on the pleasure and just wait for this to end, but fear was beginning to consume him bit by bit. The teen vaguely heard a cap being popped open. He’d heard the sound enough to know it was lube. A moment later, Haizaki shivered as he felt arms snake behind him, Akashi’s head coming to rest in the crook of his neck. Every breath the smaller male took ghosted along his hot skin, tickling him and lighting a fire in him. The arms pulled him closer, creating more friction and giving Seijuro room to finger him open. The small forward closed his eyes tightly as he felt a finger circle around his entrance, his fear increasing. Akashi was watching his face closely, trying to unravel the mystery that was Haizaki Shougo, as he slowly pushed his finger inside the tight, hot space between the taller teen’s legs. Shougo hissed at the intruding digit, but instantly relaxed against it as if he’d gone through this many times before. Seijuro didn’t fail to notice how easily he was taking the first finger as he fucked it into the male under him. This couldn’t be the first time he’d had something inside of him, no way in hell. Akashi slowly added a second finger along with the first, watching as Haizaki’s brows furrowed and he let out a small whine of discomfort. Still the ash-haired teen’s body didn’t tighten up against his ministrations. Seijuro had meant to take his time and play with Shougo today, but this was truly curious and unexpected. Haizaki let out small noises, hisses, and gasps until Seijuro brushed against a certain spot inside of him. Shougo jerked violently and let out a short moan as his legs instantly spread on instinct to give the shorter teen more access. Once he’d realized what he’d done, Haizaki felt ashamed of himself as his face burned with the feeling. “It seems I’ve found it… You’re strangely good at taking my fingers.”, Akashi said as he continued to rub against Shougo’s prostate. ‘You’re so good at taking me…Fuck, you’re so tight. It’s like your body was built for this.’ Haizaki honestly though he was going to throw up at this point. His stomach was whirling with disgust as his mind filled with more disturbing murmurings. He could feel how hard Akashi was through his tented pants, his cock twitching at every sound he made. The friction was delicious, yet so gross to him. Shougo soon found himself pushing back into the fingers and pushing forward into the hot body above him. He was so disgusted with himself. His body had completely betrayed him as he was now seemingly very willing. ‘You’re enjoying this aren’t you, don’t pretend. You’re already hard and leaking.’ ‘If I had known how much of a willing slut you were I would have fucked you a long time ago.’ ‘I think you’re ready for me now…’ “I think you’re ready now. “, Akashi stated, his fingers pulling out of the tight heat around him. Pure panic rushed into Shougo’s senses as tears threatened to spill. Flashes passed by his vision every few seconds, his mind pulling memories from his mind that he had completely forgotten until now. He suddenly remembered everything. Everything that had happened to him. Every bruising touch, every insult, every filthy word uttered to him. Everything, but the man behind the voice in his head. Vaguely Haizaki felt his legs being pushed apart and a hot tip prodding against his entrance. He looked up to find Seijuro trying to keep his breathing even as he slowly pushed past his tight ring. Akashi was in complete bliss as he sunk into that tight heat. He never imagined that Haizaki would feel this good. Once he was in to the hilt, Seijuro sighed and let Shougo adjust. When he looked down he saw tears actually spilling from the taller teen’s eyes, his gaze focused on something seemingly far away. It was a strange turn and Akashi wondered what the emotion was that he was showing. Was it fear? Pleasure? Embarrassment? No it wasn’t any of those things, but how could Seijuro know that? How could the redhead know that the ash-haired teen was feeling an emotion so complex that the teen himself couldn’t even name it? Shougo stared up at the body above him as bright, red hair turned to a dark, black. The captain’s features warped until he was someone else entirely, someone taller, someone who ruled with more force. Haizaki could now put a face to the voice. His tears fell freely now, a weakness he’d never allow himself around anyone else. He felt small and powerless; completely hopeless under the man above him who was now murmuring those revolting things to him again. Suddenly the ash-haired teen couldn’t take it anymore. The past was now completely melting into the present and dragging him back into the the dark haired man’s clutches. The vicious smirk on the man’s lips showed just how much he enjoyed tormenting him, just how sick he really was. His grey eyes glinted with lust and malicious intent. Haizaki couldn’t contain his emotions anymore as he quickly resorted to begging, something Shougo swore he never did. “Shuuzo, untie me! Please just let me go! I’m sorry, I won’t do it again! Please, just-!”   Shougo didn’t finish his sentence before he completely broke down. Sobs racked his body so violently that he couldn’t breathe anymore. Akashi had now stilled and was in complete shock. He didn’t mean… Seijuro quickly pulled out of Haizaki and off of the bed to swiftly walk to the dresser. Pulling open a drawer, Seijuro grabbed the pocket knife there and turned back to the sobbing teen. As soon as he’d cut Haizaki loose, the ash-haired teen rolled himself into a tight ball; his knees tucked into him as he willed the images still flashing in his mind to stop. Akashi patiently waited for the teen’s crying to die down until he was left a shaking and wide-eyed mess. Seijuro was reluctant to touch him in this state, less he went off again, but nonetheless placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder to see if he’d come back yet.   “Don’t fucking touch me, Akashi.”, Shougo said meaning for his voice to sound firm, but instead sounded shaky. “What happened to you?”, Seijuro asked as if Haizaki hadn’t had said anything. Shougo was silent as he glared angrily at the wall. He didn’t want to tell this bastard anything about his beloved captain. Haizaki knew he was just itching for a chance to call Shuuzo right after he finished pulling the truth from him and tell the raven haired teen all about how pathetic he looked. He suspected he knew already, but didn’t want to admit it. “Shougo wha-” “You KNOW what the fuck happened to me, so stop trying to make me say it!”, Haizaki suddenly burst out. Tears threatened to fall again, but pride made Shougo hold them back. He refused to let his character slip up again. Meanwhile Akashi just stared at him. He didn’t know what to say. The redhead knew he had triggered something that had deeply traumatized Haizaki and figured that what had happened had just come back to him in the midst of Akashi’s little game. What fascinated Seijuro the most was that it was traumatizing enough that Shougo’s mind completely blocked it out until now. It was a deep and darkly curious subject and Seijuro found himself wanting to know all about it. “Was Nijimura Shuuzo the one who-” A hard glare cut the redhead off. He didn’t care to finish his sentence because he’d already gotten his answer. “What was it that set you off?”, Seijuro asked his eyes lighting with a spark of curiosity, but also seriousness. There was a long silence as Haizaki continued to gather himself. He wasn’t going to be back to normalcy for a while, but he felt better knowing that he was nowhere near the raven haired teen. he figured that if Akashi was going to still toy with him even after this, then he should know his triggers. He doubted the teen would use them against him, seeing that Haizaki’s reaction was enough to make him lose his hard-on completely.   “Tying me up was a big one and some of the things you said”, Shougo muttered as he refused to look at the shorter teen. “I need to know exactly what I said that triggered you, so I won’t say them again.”, Akashi said evenly. Frustration filled Shougo again as he pushed the question away. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to think about it anymore. This moment of absolute weakness was making him burn with shame, his pride wounded considerably. “Just give me my damn clothes so I can go back to my room.” The shorter teen was silent for a long moment before he got up and picked up the clothes that had been stripped off of him. He handed them back to Shougo, who snatched them out of the redhead’s grasp and quickly got up to put them on. “Do you remember the way back?”, Akashi asked before the teen opened the door to leave. “I’ll manage.” -   Tetsuya jumped when the door to the room was thrown open and then slammed shut. When he saw that it was just Haizaki who had come in, he relaxed, until he felt that something was off about him as he neared the bed. “Shougo-kun, what happ-” Kuroko never finished his sentence, a bruising embrace catching him off-guard enough to render him speechless for a long moment. Haizaki buried his nose into the crook of the bluenette’s neck, letting the calming scent of freshly fallen snow wash over himself like a tidal wave. The ash-haired teen felt safe again, lost in his own world. In this small little haven no one and no trouble could reach him. Slowly they fell back into the sheets, Shougo still clinging to Tetsuya for dear life as he let tears fall again. The smaller teen was shocked when he felt the older teen’s tears wet his shoulder and Haizaki’s breaths come out in gasps. His pillar, the one who had kept him from falling under, was crumbling in his arms. This Shougo wasn’t the hard-faced and closed-emotioned delinquent he knew before, no, this Shougo was the one that laid at his very core. Under his many walls, Haizaki was just as weak and vulnerable as Kuroko was. Tetsuya shifted until the pair of them were on their sides, Haizaki’s sobs showing no signs of stopping. The smaller teen’s heart ached for the taller, wishing he could take the pain away as he murmured soft-spoken and encouraging words to him as he ran his hands through the older teen’s ash colored hair. Tetsuya was beginning to worry about just how violently Shougo was shaking. Whatever Akashi had done to him must have been exactly what he’d feared would be done to him. Anger flashed into the bluenette as he returned Haizaki’s embrace even more tightly. Briefly, Kuroko pulled away from Shougo only to plant a closed-mouthed kiss on his forehead, then his cheek, and then his chin. He tried to kiss the pain away, tried to show Shougo just how fiercely he cared about him. The older teen’s brows furrowed in confusion at the affection he wasn’t used to getting, his chest slowly warming at Tetsuya’s efforts as his tears continued to flow in a steady stream. As much as Haizaki wanted to stop them, he was too far in to stop. When the bluenett’s lips pressed against his own, though, his tears halted all together. The jolt he felt when their lips met was electrifying and he immediately found himself in a pleasant and blissful place. Haizaki eagerly returned the gesture as he pressed himself back into the shorter teen, devouring him greedily, desperate to become lost in the boy who looked and tasted like serenity. In his need to be completely enveloped in the bluenette, Shougo let his tongue brush against the shorter teen’s upper lip. Without any hesitation, Tetsuya opened up for him; letting Haizaki explore his mouth freely. Shougo had never been more intoxicated by anyone in his life and would have gladly spent the rest eternity lip-locked with Kuroko had mental and physical exhaustion not washed over him.   With great reluctance, Shougo pulled away and placed his head back into the crook of Tetsuya’s neck. The shorter teen was just as breathless as he was as they both tried to catch their breath. Their hearts were racing, pounding against their chests as they came down from their natural high. Haizaki had found his salvation. It lied within Tetsuya; the angelic bluenette who looked like serenity and smelt like freshly fallen snow. ***** Chapter 11 ***** Haizaki’s breath quickened as a looming shadow crawled over on top of him, caging him in and leaving him with nowhere to run. This was happening whether he wanted it to or not. “You weren’t at practice again, Shougo. I can’t say I’m surprised really…”, Nijimura murmured as his icy cold fingers travelled the length of the ash- haired teen’s body. Haizaki shuddered at the action, disgust filling his every pore as he managed to muster up a glare. “Rot in hell, you fucking bastard...”, the teen growled out, his defiance the only thing he had left to cling to. A hand suddenly found its way painfully into the small forward’s hair, jerking his head back forcefully to expose his neck. Tears threatened to spill as a sense of hopelessness began to fill the younger teen. He hated that he was too weak to help himself. He hated that he’d had to swallow his pride time after time and let Shuzo have his way with him. “Do you want those pictures to mysteriously wind up plastered to the school walls, Haizaki? I’d watch my tongue if I were you, delinquent.” , Nijimura spit like venom as his gentle touches turned rough in one instant. Blackmail. Those pictures were of the first time Shuzo had sexually assaulted him. The captain had been pretty pissed off when he’d had to come to his apartment to get him for the fifth time that week, angrier than Haizaki had ever seen him before. A fight inevitably ensued and a fight in which Shougo had lost. He didn’t let that deter him one bit though. Even when pressed against a wall about a foot off the ground, Shougo still continued the taunt the shorter male. He yelled obscenities and pressed every button he possibly could before he said something that set the captain off. Haizaki had made the grave mistake of saying something about the older male’s father, earning him a hit that left his ears ringing and his vision blacking. Before he knew it, the taller male was on his knees; his face too close to Nijimura’s covered package for comfort. Haizaki hissed as fingers latched into his grey locks and roughly yanked his head forward, so his face was pressed firmly into the older male’s crotch. Shougo let out a muffled scream as he tried to pull away with no avail, the captain’s grip not loosening even a little bit. “Suck my cock, you fucking degenerate.”, Shuzo growled, his eyes showing a darkness Shougo had never seen in them. The ash-haired teen’s eyes widened for a moment before he was thrown back into the wall by his hair. There was no way he was really asking him to do this! “B-but you’re not gay...or even hard!”, Haizaki protested as Shuzo’s length came into sight. “You’re right, I’m not gay and as for me not being hard? It’s your job to make it that way, isn’t it?” Shougo’s eyes slipped up and betrayed his every feeling. Fear blooming in his irises at the close proximity of another man’s dick. “No fucking way! I’m not sucking you off, you fucking faggot!” Hands found their way to his hair again and slammed the younger teen’s head into the wall for the second time, but this time those fingers stayed entangled in the small-forward's locks; face forced upwards by the commanding male above him. “I’m only going to ask you one more time, you piece of trash, suck my cock.” This tone spelled the promise of even worse things to come if the taller teen didn’t suck up and get his mouth around the flaccid flesh right now, so Haizaki did as he was told. All the while pictures were being taken, each one showing a new angle of a tearful Shougo with an impressive-sized length shoved to the hilt down his throat. Shougo violently shook his head at Shuzo’s question. He didn’t want anyone to ever see those pictures. “I thought so. You have a mouth on you, you know that? You never seem to have a filter, and it’s disgusting. You can put that dirty mouth to better use.” Haizaki let out an exasperated breath as he felt the older male shift until he was sitting on his chest, the captain’s cock head against his lips, hard and leaking. At first, Shougo had noticed, Nijimura seemed to have to force himself to do anything sexual with him. The thought of being with another guy revolted him just as much as it revolted the small forward and he had to close his eyes to be able to get hard and finish. Now, though, Shuzo found gratification in sadistically tormenting the younger teen. It gave him a natural high like no other and for a little while he could forget about everything and indulge in this daily act. Nijimura hissed as he pushed his length forward into the wet heat of Haizaki’s mouth, meeting no resistance as the younger teen immediately began to suck on him. Out of spite, Shuzo grasped a handful of ash-colored hair and yanked the small forward back and forth on his cock roughly, the action making Shougo gag and sputter every time Nijimura’s cock hit the back of his throat. Haizaki found himself looking up at the older male’s cold grey eyes, his own watery eyes showing one clear question: Why? Why after doing this once and getting revenge for his father, why did he continue to seek him out every day? Wasn’t once enough? Shuzo’s eyes only became colder at this silent question, his grip in Shougo’s hair becoming tighter to the point where the small forward was sure a chunk of his locks would be ripped out. “Either way you look at it, Haizaki, you deserve this. How many girls have you taken advantage of? How many people have you humiliated and insulted? You are the lowest of the low, complete garbage and a waste of space. You disgust me with your disrespect and disregard for anyone else but yourself.”, Nijimura stated viciously as his cock twitched in the taller teen’s mouth. Shougo felt tears slip down his face as he closed his eyes and let Shuzo do as he pleased. “Pathetic. Do you think that crying will make me pity you? Even if you were wailing, begging me to stop, and repeating apologies over and over like a mantra, I wouldn’t feel sorry for you.” Even though he knew Nijimura wouldn’t take any mercy upon him if he did those things, Haizaki found himself doing just that as the captain pounded into him seemingly without end. “Please…”, Shougo sobbed, “I’m sorry!” Haizaki’s eyes snapped open as his chest heaved with shaky breaths, sweat beading on his forehead. The teen’s body shivered at the ghost touches of the ex-captain. He could clearly feel the older male’s hands wandering over his body and bile rose in the back of his throat. Shougo flinched when he felt fingers gently run through his hair, the familiar feeling sending flashes of dread down his spine before a soft voice spoke to him. “Shougo-kun…”, Kuroko murmured with concern flashing in his blue depths. Haizaki found himself calming immediately as he looked deeply into Tetsuya’s eyes. He immediately wanted those disgusting touches to be replaced with the bluenette’s, wanted to feel that warm body pressed against his own as his mind went blank, but he felt something hold him back. Kuroko was so innocent and he was so dirty. He’d already tainted the younger teen enough already, so he couldn’t selfishly indulge in the shadow completely. Instead Shougo leaned forward and devoured the shorter teen’s lips harshly and desperately; the shorter not resisting at all. It was a short encounter and Shougo pulled away just as quickly as he’d pushed in. Kuroko felt the confliction lingering just between the seams, but guessed that after what must’ve happened between him and Akashi had left him more than a little damaged. “Go back to sleep, Shougo-kun.”, Tetsuya said as he tucked his head under Haizaki’s chin, “It’s two in the morning.” - Seijuro’s grip on his cell phone tightened as he heard a chuckle go through the line. “How did you get this number?”, the redhead asked dangerously as he looked out his study window and out into the front lawn, searching for anything suspicious. “Well, you know how it goes. Connections can let you acquire anything you need.”, Yamato said in a disturbingly light tone despite the obvious hostility in Akashi’s voice. “I’m guessing that you already know by now that this won’t be as easy as you think, this whole tracking me down thing. Especially not with the connections I have within your own… You aren’t safe in that little castle of yours, not you or Haizaki or his little toy. If I were to be entirely honest… I think that may be the most dangerous place to be…”, the brunette laughed lowly. A chill ran up the redhead’s spine as he immediately reached for the blade in his pocket and turned swiftly, his knife stopping just sligh of slashing his butler’s throat open. The wrinkled and greying man that was his most trusted of all Akashi’s servants had a syringe in hand, meaning to stick it into the younger male’s neck. This butler was the one he had put in charge of chloroforming Haizaki. A glare was enough to tell the older man that if he didn’t drop the cylinder right this second, then he wasn’t going to get out of this with his hand still intact. “I see what you mean…”, Akashi said to Yamato through the phone as he kicked the syringe far out of the butler’s reach and began to pat the male down. “Aww~ I said something too soon again, didn’t I? Oh well, plenty more where that came from and I didn’t call you for that. Though had it worked that would have been a plus.”, Yamato chuckled, “Tell Shougo that I have some pretty nice pictures featuring him and a nice fat cock in my phone. It took a lot to get these so I hope he’ll feel obligated to give me a call.” “I’ll see to it that he knows about it.” Akashi said evenly as the teen picked up another cellphone out of his many and messaged a friend of his, a brilliant hacker whom he paid handsomely. “I wouldn’t waste my time and hack into the phone I’m using. It’s not in this one.” “That’s not my intention, though it wouldn’t hurt to try in case it’s a bluff. I have another thing in mind.”, the redhead said calmly as he stared his butler in the eye. “What is your intention?”, the brunette asked feeling a little uneasy. “And why would I queue you in on that?” “What are you planning you bastard…”, Yamato growled, his voice finally lighting with anger. Just then there was a buzz from Seijuro’s other cellphone. “It’s been done. Have a nice evening, Akihito Yamato. Make sure to say hi to your mother, Akina, your father, Rin, your brother, Yato, and your girlfriend, Okumura Hikari for me.”, the redhead said as he hung up before the male on the other end could answer. With a knife still pressed to his butler’s throat, Akashi messaged someone else and a minute later two big men came in, nodded to the captain, and took the old man to a place of containment until Seijuro could find the time to deal with him. “This game is getting dangerous…”, the redhead sighed as he plopped down into his spinning chair and called his hacker. When the male on the other end picked up, it was Akashi who spoke first. “How’d you do it? I doubt he had all that information readily on his phone.” The man on the other end chuckled. “The phone was in his name, the dumbass. I hacked the phone network he uses and got some personal information and from there I dug even deeper.” Seijuro had an idea about what ‘dug in deeper’ meant. The male managed to hack into FBI documents and look up anything and everything about the twenty-five year old tyrant. “I see. Good work. Your payment will be transactioned within the next business day.”, the redhead said before he hung up - Yamato let out a roar of rage as he chucked his phone at a nearby wall. How the fuck did he find all that out? The slippery bastard… “Dammit, now he has some fucking leverage! If I make a move and it fails, he’s taking out one of them! The men in the room visibly flinched when the brunette even flipped over a table in his frustration. He’d really been backed into a corner and he was so close to defeat that he could even taste the bitterness of it. Then a thought raced through his mind, stopping his rage suddenly in its tracks. A dark and possibly slightly crazed chuckle bounced off the walls of the room, making chills race down everyone’s spines. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I still have those pictures. If I can’t infiltrate using Akashi, I’ll do it using Shougo.” “How are you going to do that when they’re all safely inside the damn mansion, dumbass?”, a blonde-haired teen with the personality of a young Haizaki said without checking his tone. Everyone waited with baited breath for another enraged outburst, but weren’t met with one. Yamato laughed at how much the kid reminded him of Shougo. Truth be told, the brunette was once and still very fond of the ash-haired teen, so having this other teen around made him feel as if the pierced male had never left. “This is Shougo’s weakness. These were his cuffs and they’re the sole reason he suffered for so long. He would do anything to have these pictures erased from the face of the earth.”, the brunette said with disgust at how weak-willed the shorter male had been and how he begged the older troublemaker not to splatter the ex-captain’s blood on the walls of his home. Haizaki was never a killer and didn’t wish death on anyone. The male had done some pretty questionable things in his short lifetime, so he didn’t feel it was fair to kill someone over things he’s been accused of doing. Yamato could understand that, but Shougo wasn’t a rapist so it didn’t make sense why he wouldn’t want Shuzo dead. Truly, Yamato felt that he’d never be able to lay a finger on Haizaki even though he needed to be punished. Most would be killed for what he’d done, but the brunette can’t bring himself to leave even one mark on the small forward’s pale skin. Yamato had been furious when he heard that his lackey had nearly killed the ash-haired male and cut off five fingers on one hand for the crime. His business was with Akashi more than it was with Haizaki, though punishment was still in order for the small-forward. If the brunette couldn’t bring himself to kill Shougo, then someone else would pay for his crimes. “And what the fuck does that have to do with anything?”, the blonde spoke up as he feigned boredom, looking to the side arrogantly. “It’ll get him to come out and if he does that, chances are that little pet of his will follow.” “You’re gonna kill him, right? Haizaki’s at fault for everything just as much as Akashi. ” Murmurs of agreement followed after the statement as Yamato’s eyes narrowed. He knew where this was going and he didn’t want to go there with the blonde he adored almost as much as Shougo. The blonde may be somewhat invincible, but he wasn’t Haizaki. Eventually his invincibility will run out if he goes down this path. “No, I’m not going to kill him.” “Why?”, the teen demanded, his confidence serving to slowly become a shallow grave he had no chance of escaping if he kept digging this hole. “I just don’t want to.”, the brunette said, his jaw tightening. The blonde’s eyes narrowed as he took a step forward without any caution. His hatred for the older male evident and very justified. Yamato had his older brother killed for attempting to kill the ash-haired teen he was so obsessed with. “Or is it that you can’t? If I didn’t know better, then I’d say he’s your weakness.”, the blonde hissed as he drew even closer, “ Seeing that he can get away with anything he wants, this has to be more than true. It would also explain your strange distaste for the bluenette he’s committed himself to. The kid did nothing wrong in this, he’s innocent and you know that. You have a personal thing going on and I’m going to hit the nail on the head and say it’s jealousy.” The brunette was silent as he let the blonde continue, his hand twitching at his side. “You honestly don’t care much that your eye was scraped out, do you? Fair is fair as you put it whenever you’re paid back for doing wrong. You touched something of Akashi’s and you would have done the same if it had been you, so you don’t care.”, the teen growled, “ But now he touched something of yours and now you want him dead. That something is Haizaki Shougo. You’re sacrificing your gang members over something petty and it won’t even benefit us in any way!” That’s when Yamato suddenly reached out and grabbed hold of the younger teen’s neck and quickly pushed him back until he was lying flat against a desk. The brunette watched the blonde’s eyes widen in panic as he clawed at the older male’s arm in vain. The vulnerable position the teen was put into had reminded him just where he stood in terms of pecking order. He’d gotten cocky and he realized his mistake immediately as the edges of his vision began to go black. “I like you, kid, really I do but you’re starting to think you have rank because you get a pass on a lot of things.”, Yamato said trying to control his evident anger and not kill the kid now, “Let’s get things straight right now, so I don’t wind up killing you. I run this gang, not you. You all serve me no matter what the cost or reason.” The blonde managed to glare at the older male as his struggling ceased. “If you want to leave, then now’s your chance. No punishment, I give you my word. You can walk away and never look back. You could have a good life and a good job, it’s not too late. Highschool’s next year for you, right? You don’t wanna die so soon, do you?”, Yamato asked as he let his grip on the blonde go. The teen stood up as his brows furrowed. He had sworn his life to this gang and now the brunette was giving him this one and only chance to turn away from this crazy life and never turn back. He’d sold his soul and now he had the chance to get it back, for nothing. It felt like a trick, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Why?” “You remind me a lot of Haizaki, you know. I can almost not bring myself to kill you either… Almost.”, the male said in a dark tone. The brunette wasn’t going to hide anymore. His secret was out anyways. Yamato had a thing for Shougo. He reminded him of himself when he was younger. It had brought him nostalgia whenever he was around the ash-haired teen and that nostalgia turned quickly into adoration and that adoration quickly turned to an obsession. “So what will it be, Kiro?”, the brunette asked, finally calling the blonde by his name and erasing his efforts at trying to pretend this teen really was the ash-haired male. The blonde hesitated for one more moment before he made up his mind. He had been pressured into joining by his older brother, but now that he was dead and gone, there was no point in him staying. Without a word the teen turned and walked away throwing out a half-assed comment on how he didn’t need to put up with this bullshit as he left. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!