Chapter Text
Kuroko's phone keeps on disappearing—or to be more honest, he just loses it all the time—and it's truly starting to get on his nerves. Is that what people feel when they can't find him? Kuroko is rethinking his existence a little every time he struggles to find his phone.
But he just looked everywhere! From the bathroom to the bedroom of their dorm... He even went back to the practice room in the main building, asked someone from the staff if any phone had been found on the set, and yet, still nothing.
He goes one last time through his usual bag, and almost cries in victory when he feels the treasured object of his search in one pocket, until he pulls a camera from his bag.
Which is very clearly not his phone, he sighs in despair.
Despite his disappointment, Kuroko's curiosity is piqued as he doesn't remember packing a camera with him, he can't help but wonder if it works at all.
He tries turning it on and the screen lights up with a battery half full plus an SD card already plugged in.
He's surprised to find the camera has both storage and battery; unexpected for something he mindlessly packed.
Just to try it, he takes a shot of the room, not really expecting anything but when he checks it, it does look nice. The camera has a particular grain that he doesn't hate—quite the opposite actually. He could use it with Seirin one day, it would be fun to make memories with that.
Though, as he's about to put the camera away, he notices that the device's storage is not empty. 104 pictures are in there and Kuroko almost frowns at the number. That's a lot for him. He usually forgets that he owns a camera and never takes more than a few pictures every time he has it so when could have these been taken?
He selects the gallery and clicks on the right arrow to check the last picture that was taken before today—curious to know when was the last time he used it—but instead, he falls on the first photo of the camera, making Kuroko freeze a bit as he recognizes the pictures of his first Christmas within the Teiko Battle Team (the camera had been their present for him).
Kuroko almost chokes as he goes through the pictures, not expecting to see today what was his perspective back then. It's nothing fancy, just him sitting on the floor while he takes photos of his friends. He remembers being surprised by the gift, touched that they would all make an effort to gather money and get him a little camera.
It wasn't big, nor was it truly expensive, but the fact that they bought it together for him made it special.
He remembers feeling special.
Kuroko bites an annoyed huff; he really has the knack to find stuff he hasn't looked at for years right when he's already at war with his mind. Did he really have to find these pictures now that he's seeing the miracles again? The irony is almost a little too much, in his opinion.
Regardless, he scrolls through the pictures. They are all taken from that night: Akashi showing his present, a shogi set, Midorima and Aomine fighting, Momoi smiling with Murasakibara.
Kise wasn't there yet, so there are no pictures of him regretfully. And despite his annoyance, Kuroko can't help the fond smile that grows on his features as he looks at the pictures. Seeing their younger selves smiling freely makes him miss these times. He finds a shot of himself with each member of the crew one by one and he has to prevent himself from laughing.
Kuroko remembers asking for that, for a memory of the people who got the present for him. Midorima had mentioned it would be more efficient to just take a group picture and Kuroko had replied they could do both, earning a few sighs and a giggle from Momoi.
He'd been insistant on getting one picture per person and they all entertained him surprisingly. His first picture is with Momoi, the two of them smiling brightly at the camera—Kuroko doesn't know if he has another picture of himself smiling that hard anywhere else. The second one is with Midorima, both of them holding their lucky item of the day as Midorima had brought everyone's lucky item for that Christmas.
Then he got a picture with Aomine, the two of them cheekily sticking out their tongues.
Murasakibara and him both held the peace sign on their photo, smiling slightly at the camera.
And the last one was with Akashi, who's head was slightly tilted in Kuroko's direction, a gentle smile on his face while Kuroko smiled at the camera with the tip of his ears a bit reddened.
He's never been good at dealing with Akashi's soft smiles, he realizes.
The pictures are candid, soft and full of laughter. It's almost weird for Kuroko to remember these bright memories when their current situation is so different. These pictures feel like they were taken from a different lifetime, so far away from their current one; it could very much be an alternate universe, Kuroko wouldn't be surprised.
Though, this is for moments like that that he also fights in this show. He hopes that he can maybe have another silly Christmas with them, it can even be a bit more serious, he doesn't mind.
He wishes he could have just another moment free of rivalry and trauma for them to enjoy a little moment together.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but he hopes it will become a reality one day.
A ringtone cuts his thoughts short, making him look around in confusion as he clearly recognizes the sound of the phone.
It's his ringtone. And through utter disbelief, Kuroko realizes that he left his phone on his bedside table, pretty much in plain sight.
He does not hit himself but the thought comes across.