I don't wanna cycle or recycle revenge

WhenTakao Kazunari pulls him into a game of “volley-basketball,” Kageyama doesn’treally think too much about it. He’s still reeling a little by what happened atthe Special Diet, and he’s not entirely sure how he should be acting around theAoba Johsai team. He knows he owes Oikawa big for this one, and there’scertainly some…mixed feelings there… but he’s not entirely sure how he shouldact around Kindaichi and Kunimi, who also came to show their support.

Hereally, really doesn’t want to feel like he owes them anything.

“Headsup!” Takao shouts, tossing the ball at Kageyama, who immediately sets it oninstinct.

Takaolaughs, “Oh man, did you do that as a reflex? You were totally zoning out aminute ago!”

“Were you trying to hit me in the head?” Kageyama asks suspiciously.

“Ofcourse not,” Takao says, whistling innocently.

*

“Sowhat’s with you and turnip head?” Takao asks after their current round comes toan end. “You keep glaring at each other.”

Kageyamashrugs, not wanting to get into it with someone he just met. “We went to middleschool together.” He scowls. “Middle school kind of sucked.”

“Ohman, tell me about it,” Takao says. “Middle school is the worst.” Hedoesn’t ask anymore questions, and Kageyama appreciates that.

*

Theyexchange numbers by the end of the day at Takao’s insistence, and Kageyamaisn’t expecting to ever talk to this guy again. Takao laughs a lot, andKageyama has never known what to do with good natured people. But somehow itdoesn’t surprise him as much as it otherwise might have when Takao does end uptexting him, and emailing him, and suddenly he has a penpal in Tokyo and lifeis very strange.

*

“Green’sboyfriend?” Hinata asks, once he notices Kageyama texting. Kageyama just staresat him blankly. “Midorima,” Hinata clarifies.

“Oh.Yeah. I guess.”

Hinata scrunches his nose up in thought. He’s clearly confused, instead ofjealous (like someone else might be, when finding out their boyfriend hadprolonged email exchanges with some other guy). “What do you guys even talkabout?”

Kageyamajust shrugs. “Our games, mostly.” The only thing they really have in common isthe fact that they’re both dating Miracles. But even that experience is sovastly different it’s not like they could even compare. Kageyama’s not evensure how they talk so often, but they do.

“Weird,”Hinata says, and then shrugs the whole issue aside.

It isweird, Kageyama agrees silently.

*

WhenMidorima and a few of the other Miracles visit Hinata, Kageyama tries to leavethem alone. He figures, some things can really only be shared between them—theones who were in Teiko together, and it’s really best to let have theirprivacy.

Takaomust agree, because he drags Kageyama away and demands they go sightseeing.Which is all well and good, up until they run into Kindaichi and Kunimi, whoare out shopping. The three Kitagawa Daiichi alumni all stare awkwardly at eachother, and if Kageyama was by himself, he’d probably pretend he didn’t see theother guys and the other guys would have probably gone along with it.

“TakaoKazunari,” Takao introduces himself. He’s wearing his Shutoku uniform, so it’sobvious he doesn’t go to Karasuno, which explains Kunimi’s question, “How doyou know Kageyama?”

“Wedated in middle school,” Takao says brightly, before Kageyama can respond.

“You—you did not!” Kindiachi says hotly. “You didn’t go to Kitagawa Daiichi!”

“Nope,it was a long distance thing,” Takao says.

“Kageyamawas not dating anyone then,” Kunimi says.

“Youdidn’t tell them about your adorable boyfriend?” Takao says good-naturedlyoutraged, “He was so shy back then! And such an adorable stud, I really shouldhave locked this one in when I could.” Takao then launches into such aconvincing narrative about their long-distance middle school romance Kageyamaalmost forgets for a second that it never happened.

*

“Whatwas the point of that?” Kageyama asks. Kunimi and Kindaichi had walked awayscowling, and that was pretty satisfying, but he’s not sure why Takao did it.

Takaoshrugs. “I told you I had a rough time during middle school. There was a timewhen it was easy to pretend I had a long-distance boyfriend, just so people—well,just so some people knew I’d moved on and they couldn’t get to me, I guess. Ijust thought maybe you’d benefit from having an imaginary ex-boyfriend too.”

Kageyamathinks about this, and it occurs to him that having an imaginary boyfriendmight have actually been a good coping mechanism back then, had it occurred tohim at the time. “Thanks,” he says, a little awkwardly.

“Anytime.Ooh! I’m totally going to tell Shin-chan and Hinata we used to date, that wouldbe amazing!”

Kageyamarolls his eyes. “Hinata would never believe you.”

The day Kuroko moves in with the Fujimaki family, he feels tired. He sits in the car next to Fujimaki Takaya and doesn’t really speak the entire time. His relationship with the general is often defined by their philosophical discussions about literature, but they are just as easy together in silence. The general, more than anyone else in Kuroko’s life, knows just how tired Kuroko is. The boy has tried so hard to forge bonds—with the other Miracles, with humans, with anyone—only to have them severed, time and time again, and he is exhausted.

Kuroko feels somewhat like this move into the Fujimaki household is an escape—like an old time “rest cure” for madness. He feels tired, and numb, and hollow, and a little bit like maybe he should just disappear from everything.

“Oh,” Fujimaki says, his voice strange. It draws Kuroko’s attention, who only looks at the man but doesn’t ask the question. “My children have, apparently, come to visit,” he says, answering Kuroko’s unasked question.

Kuroko has never met the general’s children, and somewhat thought he wouldn’t ever really need to—they were all adults, Fujimaki had explained, moved out and with families or lives of their own.

“Is that… not a good thing?” Kuroko asks, suddenly uncertain. What if they didn’t want him here? What if he was an intrusion after all?

“It is perfectly fine,” Fujimaki says reassuringly, “I had just hoped… well, I was always planning on introducing you, just… after you had the chance to settle.” He looks down at Kuroko after he parks the car and says, “The important thing to remember is that they mean well.”

*

“I BROUGHT CLOTHES AND STUFF.”

“That was very nice of you, Sakura, thank you. We did buy Tetsuya-kun clothes. We also have stuff,” Fujimaki replies calmly.

“YEAH, BUT NOT NICE CLOTHES. YOU AND MOM HAVE NO TASTE.”

“Please do not take this the wrong way, but what are you all doing here?”

“TO MEET TETSUYA. I ALWAYS WANTED A LITTLE BROTHER.”

“Hey! You have a little brother!” Tadashi says indignantly. “I’m your little brother!”

“I WANT A CUTE LITTLE BROTHER.”

“OK, if we’re adopting more siblings, I want a new sister,” Tadashi says.

“Both of you, be quiet,” Hiroki says. “We are trying to make a good impression. Where is Tetsuya-kun?”

“He’s here,” Fujimaki says, calmly. “But I think you’ve frightened him.”

Kuroko doesn’t feel frightened, exactly. But these people are loud, and a little overwhelming, and it has always been his automatic response to fade into the background whenever confronted with something new.

“HEY I FOUND HIM,” Sakura says, almost pouncing on Kuroko when she spots him. Kuroko is a little startled by the discovery—it’s the rare sort of person who can spot him through his Latent Overflow.

“Awesome,” Tadashi says, “Nice to meet you, kid. Let me show you your room. It’s my old room and I’ve stocked it with supplies.”

“What kind of supplies?” Fujimaki asks, sounding vaguely concerned.

“All kinds of supplies,” Tadashi replies enigmatically, tugging on Kuroko.

“Guys, you are doing a terrible job of a good first impression. This is what happens when you lack discipline—”

“SHUT UP, HIROKI,” “No one asked you, Hiroki,” Sakura and Tadashi say at the same time.

This is, all things considered, not something he expected to encounter, and by the end of the day, Kuroko’s energy is drained. It’s a different kind of tired than before, but good.

*

The day Kuroko moves in with Kagami, he feels confident that this is the right choice, but unexpectedly sad.

“Are you sure you still want to do this?” Kagami asks, uncertain, like he has ever since he met the general and his wife.

“Yes, Kagami-kun. This is where I belong,” Kuroko says simply. And that’s all that really matters—for the first time in his life, Kuroko has found somewhere he belongs. He will miss the Fujimakis, and he will always appreciate their kindness, but he doesn’t want to lose this chance. (Kagami would wait, if that’s what Kuroko wanted. But Kuroko doesn’t want to wait. He spent years waiting for his chance to escape Teiko, and he’s done putting off things he wants. Life is too precious to postpone desire).

“OK,” Kagami says, coloring slightly. “If that’s what you want.”

This time, moving in is a quiet affair. He has more stuff this time—books and clothes and a few basketball related things—but it is still quick and when he’s there, Kuroko feels like this is the home he was always meant to have.

*

And even though he’s moved in with Kagami for awhile, it’s a bit like he’s moving in all over again when the Fujimaki siblings finally come to visit.

“SEE? I TOLD YOU THEY WOULDN’T HAVE ANYTHING.”

“They’re dudes, Sakura, of course they—holy crap, man, did you just move in or something?” Tadashi looks around. “Where’s all your stuff?”

“I have stuff,” Kagami defends.

“No, you really don’t,” Hiroki says. “That’s OK, we brought you stuff.”

“We don’t need—”

“HERE’S A PLANT,” Sakura says, handing Kagami a ficus.

“I don’t need a plant?” Kagami says.

“THE PLANT’S NAME IS DONALD.”

“What—why does the plant have an American name?” Kagami says.

“We also brought more chairs and rugs, and Sakura brought some fancy bathroom stuff,” Hiroki says.

“IT’S CALLED SOAP.”

“Your kitchen is surprisingly well-stocked for two dudes living together,” Tadashi says, with an impressed whistle. “Someone knows how to cook. And by someone, I mean obviously Kagami has some hidden depths, because I know it’s not you, Tetsuya.”

“Kagami-kun is very talented,” Kuroko says.

“Get out of our kitchen,” Kagami says.

Kuroko looks at Kagami, not expected the easy way he said “our”—and it fills him with a kind of warmth he’s experienced every day since moving in.

“Obviously I need to visit you guys more,” Tadashi says. “I’ve been mooching off of Hiroki’s wife because Sakura is crap at cooking.”

“COOK FOR YOUR DAMN SELF, TADASHI.”

“How, how often are they going to visit?” Kagami asks Kuroko to the side.

“Not too often,” Kuroko says. “But, I imagine it will always be like this when they do.”

“Christ. I’m going to have to buy more dishes,” Kagami says.

“WE BROUGHT DISHES!” Sakura says helpfully.

It would be hard to explain how happy it makes him: to be in the home he belongs, and still have the important people he’s met still in his life. There was a time when it seemed like everything could be taken away and every bond could be severed. Kagami is the first person who made him realize that wasn’t true, but Kuroko is beginning to see there were people who were trying to teach him that all along.

A/N:

Synopsis: The first time Furihata met Akashi Seijuurou’s Guardian Piyo, it was on the basketball court at the Winter Cup.

AU: Guardian Piyo AU

Pairing: Akashi/Furihata

Word Count: 1,600+

Note: Just a little something for AkaFuri day. Posting a bit early, because I’m gonna be busy tomorrow. A simple, sweet meet-cute-and-a-bit-more that takes place in a world where everyone has a little Piyo that follows them around.

Can be read under the cut.