Chapter Text
I. Kise
Kise had mixed emotions for the practice match they had coming up. On one hand, they were having it against Seirin, which he had only recently found out was where Kuroko had chosen to go, and Kise would always enjoy being able to play with or against the phantom. (The light blue haired boy had refused to tell any of them what school he had picked. Had it not been for Momoi, they probably would've had to wait till Interhigh to find out.) On the other, however, his stomach was cramping up and he was feeling a little lightheaded due to the diet his manager had him on for the past week. He didn’t think it was anything bad. He'd witness other models undergo stricter limits. He also didn’t know why he was covering up the fact that he was eating less from basically everyone around him.
"Kurokocchi!"
Arms wrapped around air as the tall blonde stumbled, nearly falling on his face if not for the sturdy grip on his uniform jacket. Frail as he may seem, the strength in Kuroko's thin arms were not to be questioned or doubted.
"Kise-kun, how many times have I told you to just give me a simple greeting rather than running at me like that every time? And what have we told you about your indoor voice?" The bland words were tinted with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, which meant the younger wasn't actually mad at him, if only slightly reprimanding. Kise pouted, righting himself and clinging onto the other’s arm as he continued making a spectacle of himself in front of the shocked and frozen Seirin team.
"You never let me hug you, though! And I did lower my volume this time! Not to mention I haven't seen you in awhile. Stubborn Kurokocchi, always keeping things to himself." The blonde huffed, eek-ing as he narrowly avoided the jab to his ribcage. The phantom pain of past jabs made him take a cautionary step away from his ex-teammate. Kuroko narrowed his eyes on him, though the ghost of a smug smile lingered at the edges of his mouth. "Because the lot of you are quite nosy and overbearing. And you always get too excited whenever you see one of us. Do be more mindful about that, yes?"
"We just care about you, you know that. And I am, Kurokocchi! Promise!"
Kuroko just let it go and didn't mention how many times the other had promised the same thing in the past years and yet had yet to do so.
"K—Kise Ryouta?" Riko broke out of her stupor as she looked at the intruder in awe and confusion. The blonde turned his million watt smile towards her and the team, waving lazily. “Allo!”
Hyuuga frowned deeper. “What’re you doing here? Kanagawa isn’t exactly close.”
“Visiting Kurokocchi, of course! I heard from our coach that we'd be having a practice match with your school and I remembered Kurokocchi went here, so I decided to drop by!"
"You mean you skipped practice."
The icy tone made the Seirin team tense up, never having heard their new member use it. Kise had heard it before a few times, but only once was it used on him. Pure terror rushed through his veins as he tried to placate his old friend. Though the younger’s anger wasn't obvious, the way his pale eyes darkened made it all clear.
"K—Kurokocchi, it isn't like that, I swear! I—I don't skip anymore! I only miss practice for work! I promise! I only came here 'cause I was on my way to a shoot but it got cancelled and I'd still miss practice by the time I went back so I decided to visit while I was here. I even informed my captain, you can ask him if you want to double check!"
Kuroko stayed silent for a while just studying the other who looked like he was on the verge of genuine tears before he nodded. The blonde immediately brightened up, arms raising to try and hug the blue haired boy. He paused before choosing instead to wrap one arm around the other’s shoulders in a side hug. Kuroko sighed, but otherwise allowed the compromise. Kise shook him a bit, looking down imploringly.
"So… you still won't transfer?"
Kuroko looked up at him blankly. "No."
A pout. "Mou~ will you at least think about it?"
"I believe my mind has been made and set, Kise-kun."
"It doesn't have to be Kaijo, you know. Akashicchi did say you could go to Rakuzan with him, or even join Aominecchi and Momoicchi in Touou. Muracchi was saying something about baking classes in Yosen and even Midorimacchi mentioned that—"
"That's enough, Ryouta."
"O—Oi! Kuroko goes to Seirin! Who do you think you are to ask him to transfer?" Hyuuga glared at the blonde, looking ready to hit him upside the head. Before anyone could add onto that, or point out the fact that Kuroko had called Kise by his first name, a ball came flying towards the blonde. Luckily, Kise had raised the hand wrapped around Kuroko’s shoulders just in time to catch it before it met the side of his face. He glared at the swaggering redhead approaching them. Hyuuga and Riko yelled out at Kagami but the first year simply ignored them. “Oya? You could’ve hurt Kurokocchi too, you know?”
Kagami ignored the statement, propping a hand on his hip and arching a brow. “You’re one of them, right? The Generation of Miracles?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Play me, I wanna see how strong you actually are.”
The blonde tilted his head, one brow rising. A slow grin crept up his face. “Eh? Confident, are we? I'm not really in the proper attire for a game but alrighty then, let’s do this—”
“You will do no such thing, Kise-kun.”
The taller twirled to face his stern faced ex-teammate. “Kurokocchi! He almost hurt you! I have to put him in his place—”
“There will be no putting of anyone in their place whatsoever. While I appreciate it, you have dropped by unannounced and disrupted our practice. Kagami-kun is a bit overconfident and quite short-tempered—”
“Oi!”
“—Which is never a good combination if he were to go up against you. Please wait until the scheduled match to let out your frustrations on each other.”
The blonde pouted, dropping the ball to tug at the hem of Kuroko’s practice shirt. “But he almost hurt you, Kurokocchi.”
The light blue haired boy patted Kise’s upper arm, frowned a little, and then shook his head, giving the taller a small smile. “And you managed to stop it, so thank you, Kise-kun. How about you wait for me at the Maji near my house and I’ll treat you to dinner, hm?”
Alone time with Kurokocchi? It was like being given a briefcase filled to the brim with gold bars. Kise winced at having to find a way to not eat in front of the other, thinking of an excuse like ‘eating ahead’ and just ordering a light drink or something after. “Perfect! See you then, Kurokocchi!”
The blonde gave the younger one last side hug and bowed to the rest of the team before heading to the doors. Kagami growled at not getting the game he wanted. “Hey, pretty boy! You’re just gonna walk away like that? I guess you and your old team were just overhyped, then.”
Kise paused by the door and turned to the redhead with a flat look, brow arched. His tone was casual, but there was a certain bite to it. “I know when to pick my battles, and if Kurokocchi tells me to do or not to do something, I follow. You all better learn that lesson quickly if you’re going to play with him and save yourselves the trouble.”
He directed the last statement to the entire team, looking all of them in the eye before smiling and walking out the door. His stomach growled when he got to the bottom of the stairs and he pouted, sighing as he headed to the Maji Burger near the light blue haired boy’s house. Maybe he should let Kuroko treat him a little, a cheat day wouldn’t hurt him so much. He could just train away the added weight, after all.
Kise managed not to throw himself fully at the other boy when Seirin arrived at his school for their scheduled match. He still got scolded for yelling again. After chatting a little bit, Kise brought up the plans of his coach.
"Uhm, Kurokocchi?"
"Yes, Kise-kun?"
"Coach actually isn't gonna let me play today. And he said he's only going to let you guys use half of the court for the practice match.”
Hyuuga pushed forward to walk alongside the two Miracles who had been walking in front of the rest of the group. “Oi, first year, is your coach looking down on us?”
“N—No, sir! Well, kinda? Uhm,” the blonde shrunk when the spectacled second year leered over him and pushed Kuroko in between them to act as a buffer, much to the bemusement of the shorter. “He just thinks that, uhm…”
“That our small, newbie school is to be underestimated?” Riko said sweetly, murder intent clear on her smiling face. “Ah, well then, we’ll just have to give them a good reason to put you in, hm?”
Kise felt a shiver creep up his spine as he bent down to whisper in the light blue haired boy’s ear. “Kurokocchi, how the heck do you keep finding scary people like Akashicchi and your coach?”
“Kise-kun, there’s a scary person coming right for us looking like you ran over his pet dog.”
Lo and behold, Kasamatsu was indeed heading in their direction from the gym with a mad look on his face. “Kise, you brat! Where the heck did you disappear to in the middle of practice? The coach is looking for you!”
“Ah, senpai,” the blonde trailed off, chuckling nervously. A blob of blue entered his vision, cutting in front of him. Kuroko bowed to the third year. “Please excuse Kise-kun, I asked him if someone could escort us to the gym since we were unfamiliar with the campus.”
Pain flared across the blonde’s side as he doubled over with a pained groan, posture reminiscent of a bow.
“Please also excuse him for failing to inform you and your coach properly.” The light blue haired boy continued, unperturbed by the whining boy next to him. Kasamatsu raised a brow at the blank faced boy, making eye contact with the other captain present and nodded. “Fine then, but he’s gonna get double laps as punishment.”
“Senpai!”
Kuroko narrowed his eyes at his blonde friend. “His punishment or mine, Kise-kun, take your pick.”
Seirin and Kasamatsu watched as the model-athlete paled under a second. Gulping, Kise nodded quickly. “N—Noted, Kurokocchi. I’ll do the laps.”
“Thank you, Kise-kun.”
Kasamatsu eyed the boy with more interest, crossing his arms. “So, you’re the infamous 'Kurokocchi' I've been hearing about.”
The boy bowed again. “Kuroko Tetsuya, it’s nice to meet you, Kasamatsu-san.”
“You know who I am?”
“Other than being well-known as the captain of a nationally-acclaimed power school, I make it my business to know the new teammates of my own.”
Kasamatsu arched his brow again, noting how the boy didn’t call Kise a ‘former’ teammate. Some of the Seirin second years noticed the same thing. "Forgive me then for not extending the same courtesy."
"It's fine, Kasamatsu-san, I do not expect people to do much extensive research on our team, especially considering how… known, the Generation of Miracles have become, to say the least."
"And yet you seem to be a Miracle yourself, if what I've picked up on Kise's ramblings is correct, but I know nothing about you."
The phantom of a smile appeared on Kuroko's face as his eyes gleamed with mirth. He inclined his head. "A side effect of my role and playing style. Shall we head inside, captain?"
Accepting the diversion for what it was, the group finally made their way into the gym. Riko spoke with the coach, her smile as fake as her cheery tone. Kise pouted at the net dividing the court. He felt a hand pat his elbow and looked down to see determined pale blue orbs staring up at him. "Start stretching and stay warm, Kise-kun. You will play today."
The blonde was just going to express his excitement when his stomach chose that exact moment to verbally complain. Kuroko's gaze shot down as his fingers twitched against Kise's arms. "Have you eaten, Kise-kun?"
"E—Eh? Of course I did," Kise rubbed the back of his nape sheepishly, feeling another cramp hit him as he tried not to let it show outwardly. The cramps had worsened even more and he swore he had fainted in class that morning instead of having fallen asleep by accident. "I just didn't have much of an appetite when I had lunch so I didn't eat as much as usual."
"Your arms feel thinner. You look thinner."
"I'm finally losing my baby fat, Kurokocchi, that's all! Nothing to worry about."
Kuroko looked like there was something else he wanted to say but his coach had called him over. Giving the older a look that told him 'this isn't over', he headed towards where his team was huddled together. Sighing in relief, Kise jogged over to where his own team was warming up. He grinned at the thought of being able to play with Kuroko once again, even if they weren't on the same team. His grin immediately turned into a frown when his vision blurred for a second and he nearly tripped over himself.
If he stayed awake enough to play, that is.
Kise was a little shocked at Kagami breaking the hoop, but at least it got his coach to make him play. That being said, regardless of the fact that he was slower than usual while he fought back the nausea, he really had underestimated the strength of Seirin as a team, especially the combination of Kuroko and Kagami at the end. Lining up for the bow, Kise felt himself tilting forward when he bent down.
"O—Oi, Kise!"
"Kise-kun!"
Two sets of arms grabbed him by the shoulder and supported him by the armpits. Blinking away the black dots blocking his vision, he looked up to see the worried faces of Kasamatsu and Kuroko. The blonde tried to smile but a cramp hit him hard, making it look more like a grimace. "A—Ano, I'm just a little lightheaded, is all."
He tried his best not to meet the eye of his mentor.
"Kasamatsu-san, please help me bring him to the benches."
Kise was basically dragged to the bench, the players sitting there giving them space as the Kaijo captain berated him. Kuroko had vanished and returned with the blonde’s gym bag, the keychain the Miracles all had a tell-tale sign that it was his. Kise was just about to get Kasamatsu to not make him go to the nurse when he heard the younger speak again.
"Kise-kun... what is this?"
Kise turned to face the Phantom, a chirpy response already prepped on his tongue, when he saw what the other was pertaining to. His practised smile froze as he paled, eyeing the familiar folder in the smaller’s pale hands. Forcing out what he hoped was a casual chuckle, Kise shrugged.
"Oh? Ah, that's just something the company had me do! I brought it since I was gonna drop it off at the agency later to grab the revised version. It's nothing, really!"
No one would've noticed Kuroko's grip had changed if they hadn't noticed the sudden wrinkles in the previously pristine folder. "Kise-kun, what have we told you about keeping secrets?"
"It's not a secret! It… it was a job requirement!"
"Any job that forces their employees to starve themselves to death deserves to be boycotted and for the company to go bankrupt."
Gasps and other shocked noises filled the gym. Kise felt himself deflate, his not-secret secret finally out. "It's just a diet, Kurokocchi."
Pale blue orbs narrowed in warning. "It's preposterous and inhumane, is what it is. Sit down."
"But, Kurokocchi—"
"Sit down, Ryouta. Now."
No sooner were the soft, icy words out of the blue haired boy’s mouth was the blonde already seated, back ramrod straight and knees together. The other players and even Kaijo's coach looked like they were about to follow the command as well, their knees wavering. The model watched, swallowing his nerves, as the Phantom took out his bright yellow phone from his bag and unlocked it. The passcode wasn't hard to guess, considering it was Kuroko's own birthday. Typing something in, the younger opened up the file and flipped to a certain page as the flash went off. More typing, the ping! of a notification, even more typing, and then he tossed Kise his phone and tore the folder in half, ignoring the whimper the model let out. The blonde shrunk even further when blazing cold orbs turned to him.
"Midorima-kun was already on his way and will check you over before escorting you to his father's clinic. I've sent Akashi-kun the overview of your so-called diet and he will coordinate with your manager and company himself."
"Kurokocchi—"
"Do not make me go there myself, Ryouta. What the heck were you thinking?"
"They said I had to do it," the blonde felt the familiar stinging in his eyes that meant he was tearing up. "There's a big group shoot at the end of the month with this really famous brand and the photographer assigned to do it is really strict on how the models look and—" a choked sob. "My manager gave me that, saying that it would m—make me more…"
"More what?"
The silence was only broken by the model-athlete's sniffles
"More what, Ryouta?"
Gold met blue.
"More 'visually aesthetic'."
Kuroko closed his eyes and visibly took in a deep breath. Letting it go, he opened his eyes and approached the blonde. Kasamatsu gave the boy space as the Phantom knelt between the blonde’s legs and took the downcast face in his palms, startling the other and making him look back up. Kuroko gave him a small but warm smile. In a soft voice that only the two of them could hear, he spoke.
"Kise-kun, do you think your sister is any less beautiful when she decided to stop watching her calorie intake?"
The blonde immediately sat straighter. "No!"
"How about Murasakibara-kun's cousin? Do you think he's unattractive just because he's on the heavier side?"
"Toracchi? He's as hot as me, though."
The Phantom smiled wider and pinched the older’s nose, making the other scrunch it up. "Exactly. So do you think someone being more than thin is ugly?"
"No, of course not."
"Then is being sickly thin more beautiful?"
"I," the older began but couldn't continue.
"I need you to understand that beauty is beyond skin, beyond weight, more than perfection and not above flaws. You don't need to change yourself because your beauty comes from within. If that photographer of yours can't see that, he doesn't deserve his job. Not to mention that you are a growing, teenage boy and an athlete at that. If anything, you need to gain weight to build up your muscles. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
Kise wiped away his tears and nodded, feeling like a weight was taken off his shoulders. Leave it to his mentor to say just the right thing. "Hai."
Kuroko nodded and stood, about to turn away to grab something when he felt a tug on his shorts. Looking back down, he saw Kise looking up at him with his puppy eyes, still slightly red and swollen from crying but looking much brighter than before. "Yes, Kise-kun?"
"Can I hug you?"
The Phantom sighed, but nodded either way. Kise brightened even more with that and tugged the younger closer, pulling him between his legs and wrapping his arms around the other's waist. Kuroko gently brushed away the sweat drenched strands from the older's face.
"Thank you, niicchi," the blonde sighed against the light blue haired boy's stomach. Kuroko only nodded, humming. Both ignored the whispering around them as they waited for their green haired, bespectacled brother to arrive.
"You know, he may not seem like it, but if that kid managed to handle Kise that quickly and efficiently, then maybe he really was his teammate in Teiko," the Kaijo coach mused to himself, stroking his chin. Kasamatsu turned to Seirin's captain and pointed at the intertwined Miracles. "Has little blue always been that scary?"
Hyuuga sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's usually the calm one, though he's not that easy to read so I can't fully say if he's actually calm or just, I don't know, repressed or something."
Kasamatsu nodded just as a tall, green haired male wearing glasses and an unfamiliar uniform appeared by the doors, bowed to the room, and promptly made his way over to Kise and Kuroko, who had finally separated. A gruff huff. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say the kid was their captain or something."