Before anime, I was not a shipper. Actually, even after getting into anime (celebrating a year of being a weeb🥳 ), I still didn’t get the whole ship thing. But (and I say this everyday) thank goodness for BL/Yaoi because not only did it introduce me to an amazing genre with a supportive and friendly community, it opened the door to my inner shipper (slight pun indeed intended)😌

Watching Kuroko no Basket almost exactly a year ago to this day, I finally, truly understood the allure of shipping. Now, I’m about to get on one of my hills I’m willing to take a stake on but: Kuroko no Basket is the gayest sports anime I have ever had the pleasure of watching. I sent a friend of mine many clips during my rewatch as I was beginning this project, and every time she agreed these two dudes were in love with each other😌

I don’t want to say too much more, so just… enjoy the ride😘 OH but I will say that they are aged up (i.e third years instead of first years like in the anime)🌚

Kuroko

“Kuroko-san, you look like you’ve seen a ghost!” Kuroko Tetsuya might as well have, because there was no way that Kagami Taiga stood less than six feet away from him. 

“It’s nothing Takahashi-kun,” he said slowly, turning his back to give the young man beside him his full attention. “Are we ready to head to the booth?”

“R-right! Yes, we are all set.” Mr. Takahashi checked his clipboard again and gave another affirmative nod, eager eyes sparkling. He swiveled on his heel and led the way toward the booth, Tetsuya gladly following. But Kagami’s gaze dug into his back, causing goosebumps to ripple over his skin so intensely it was almost painful. Somewhere deep within his armpits, needles poked at his nerves, and sweat began to trickle down the back of his arm. His body remembered Kagami, even as his mind and heart  fought to forget him.

“Who do you think is going to win, Kuroko-san?” Mr. Takahashi pulled out the booth door keys, making quick work of unlocking the door. 

Tetsuya’s breath materialized into puffs as he rushed into the announcement room. He hit the red button on the phone intercom system three times to call for water before switching on his lamp. Both he and Takahashi enjoyed the games better in the dark from how high up they were, but they still needed to be able to see whatever papers they prepared for the game beforehand. The booth faced the center of the court and its large windows gave an unobstructed view of all the action. Sometimes, Tetsuya felt like he was back on the court himself, sitting on the bench, waiting to be put in, the heat from exertion warming his skin. 

“Kuroko-san?” Mr. Takahashi grabbed the shorter man’s shoulders. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Tetsuya flinched.. “I assure you, I’m fine. Let’s get set up.”

The silence between them freed Tetsuya’s thoughts to wander and his eyes to stare at the court before him. 

“… America?”

It was the only thing Kagami said after picking up the call from Alex, his childhood coach, but Tetsuya knew the only proposal of America that would make Kagami sound like that was if he were going back. Permanently. 

As always, Tetsuya stayed silent and observed Kagami’s reactions: the tensing of his shoulders, his plush lips pulled back ever so slightly in a smile, and a faint crimson sparkle in his eye. It told Tetsuya that Alex could only be offering the opportunity of a lifetime in America, and that Kagami was going to take it. His fingers started to shake at his sides and he slowly curled them into fists so Kagami wouldn’t notice. He fought the natural tensing one’s shoulders tend to do when hearing news that rips one’s heart out with pliers. 

Kagami hung up slowly and held his phone underneath his chin. He squinted his eyes, lips pursing forward. Kuroko wondered if he was so deep in thought he became unaware of him again. He opened his mouth but then closed it. What could he say? Would his voice even come out?

“Let’s skip today.” His eyes were calm but intense when he met Tetsuya’s gaze. 

“Kagami-kun.” Tetsuya stared at him unblinkingly. 

Kagami sighed before looking away to stare straight ahead. “Come over after practice, then.”

So he isn’t going to tell me now. While Kuroko was happy to have more time to prepare a response, his eyebrows rose slightly at the lie of omission. If Kagami told him now, though, it would be real. As long as it remained an unproven phantom between them, Kuroko could pretend that it was a normal day, and pretend he hadn’t heard or that he had misunderstood. What he couldn’t shake was the pain growing in his stomach. 

They entered the school building, and the new routine since winning the Winter Cup was girls from all years scrambled to bask in Kagami’s light and swarmed him with questions, while Tetsuya remained largely ignored. If one of the admirers did notice him, which was rare, he swore he could see question marks in their pupils because they had no idea of his existence. As he and Kagami’s relationship developed, displays like this chewed at his nerves. Today however, he gladly let the girls sweep Kagami away from their lockers. 

I wonder how he’ll tell the team. Kuroko changed shoes and grabbed his English workbook, faintly smiling at the photograph of him and the Generation of Miracles from his birthday. After playing until sunset, they followed Tetsuya to Kagami’s place only to be surprised by the whole Seirin team and a few other guests. Tetsuya would never tell anyone this, but he smiled the whole evening to stop the misting in his eyes. What he told Kagami earlier that day was true: his birthday meant that people remembered him for once. Knowing the person that meant the most to him planned it all meant even more. 

And when everyone left, Kagami paid him more than enough attention. To this day, Tetsuya had yet to cum as much as he did that night. Just the thought of Kagami’s mouth suckling at his nipples made Tetsuya’s whole face flush scarlet. He stuck his head in his locker and took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to be remembering things like that, Kagami hadn’t technically told him anything yet he had to remind himself. Even if he had, he was at school. 

He could hear Kagami making more of a concentrated effort to escape the clawing girls and catch up to him, so Tetsuya quickly finished grabbing what he needed before shutting the locker door and heading down the hall. They weren’t in the same class, so they usually spent right up until the bell together, and then lunch. Tetsuya still didn’t have anything to say to Kagami, not even their usual conversations, because his America-sized worry took up all the space in his mind. He dreaded practice now and considered faking coming down with a cold to avoid the team, and Kagami, and having to process unwelcome news in front of them. 

Tetsuya looked at his watch and saw that the bell would ring sooner than Kagami would be able to catch up, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He hoped that class would be enough to distract him because he wasn’t quite ready to face this news and what it meant. Times like these made Tetsuya glad his desk was in the final row of the classroom. He sat down unnoticed by his classmates and gazed out the large window next to his desk. 

His classroom faced west, so the sun glowed softly and illuminated the cherry blossoms in bloom. Tetsuya heard the bell  and sighed, leaning back into his seat. Suddenly, the sound of furious footsteps overpowered Yokozawa-sensei’s morning greeting. 

A disheveled and out of breath Kagami stood in the doorway. Tetsuya felt his mouth drop open slightly. 

“Kuroko! Coach said to meet for lunch.” 

Before anyone could react, he was gone, his thundering exit filling the stunned silence. Tetsuya got over his shock and couldn’t help but laugh to himself. Of course he wouldn’t let me slip away. It made him think about when he tried to help Kagami clean after his “surprise” birthday celebration ended. 

At that time, they’d only been intimate a few times due to the basketball season and because it had taken so long for both young men to confess their feelings to each other. Tetsuya liked being close to Kagami in that way, but hated the vulnerability that came with it. Kagami’s natural instincts tended to kick in and he picked up on all the ways to make Tetsuya lose his composure. Recently, Kagami made a habit of restraining Tetsuya’s arms in some way to keep him from using them to hide his face. 

For those reasons, he had been avoiding being alone with Kagami, or distracting him with basketball if they had to be. This time, since Kagami’s apartment was a mess, Tetsuya had a convenient excuse. 

“Let’s get to work Kagami-k—” Hot lips smashed into his, and the force of the kiss knocked their teeth together. 

“I thought they’d never leave.” Kagami’s eyes glowed , his pupils like glittering rubies in dim candle light. 

Testuya put some distance between them and grabbed a new trash bag from the pile he’d set out a few minutes before. “And they trashed the place, so let’s get to cleaning.” 

He could feel Kagami watching him closely and the attention made his shoulders tense as he tried to appear unbothered by the electricity pulsing between them. Would it really be a bad thing to give in? The horny side of him made Tetsuya pause for a split second. It was all Kagami needed to reach out for his slim waist, dragging him into his embrace. 

“We can clean after.” He nuzzled at Tetsuya’s ear, the heat of his  breath sending shivers down his back. 

Tetsuya wriggled against Kagami’s muscular arms but made little progress in getting away. However, he managed to wake up a certain part of Kagami’s body, which now dug into his lower back. Whenever he got an erection, Tetsuya was always surprised at Kagami’s size and that his body was capable of taking on his above average package. 

“Kagami-kun, you don’t like to shower after we have sex… and you expect me to believe you’ll clean after you do whatever you plan to do to me?” 

“Tch.” His grip slackened and Tetsuya stepped a few feet away before Kagami could tense up again. 

Tetsuya turned his back and began to pick up trash the others left behind. Midorima and his senpai who visited from college for the occasion tried their best to ease the load, but between Aomine, Kise, and Murasakibara and the guys from Seirin it still looked like a food bomb exploded. He could hear Kagami’s stomps and aggressive rustling of his trash bag. Tetsuya couldn’t help but smile to himself at his childish antics. While they were annoying, it was still endearing, especially knowing he was the reason Kagami Taiga was pouting.  

At some point, Kagami turned on music and his steps became quieter. Tetsuya let himself smile this time because he liked this side of Kagami the most. Heat still burned in his eyes and through his pants Tetsuya could see his semi-hard on, but the smile gracing Kagami’s lips was calm. Kagami was the perfect housewife; he knew how to cook, loved to clean, and could keep his whites white while doing laundry. So, Tetsuya’s insistence that they clean wasn’t just to save his ass; he knew a mess in the morning would cloud Kagami’s day (and as a result, Tetsuya would have to deal with a grumpy and stubborn lion). 

“It’s late, Kagami-kun.” 

He laughed to himself as Kagami jumped mid-lyric. Embarrassment tinted his cheeks a dusty rose color, and it made Tetsuya’s heart thud against his rib cage. Kagami glanced at the clock on his wall and his eyes widened slightly. 

“You’re right Kuroko, sorry about that.” Kagami had gone above and beyond cleaning, taking out heavy duty cleansers and sprays that frequently made Tetsuya sneeze. 

“It’s okay, I already let mom know I was coming home late.”

Kagami abruptly dropped the broom and dustpan in his hands, spilling the last bits of trash he’d just swept back on the floor. 

“Kagami-kun.”

This time when Kagami kissed him, Tetsuya knew there was no running. He was at Kagami’s mercy. 

“Good thing I told her you were staying over while you were distracted.” He said it as a tease, but those dark eyes burned with intensity Tetsuya thought he only reserved for his worthy opponents. 

“You’ve already given me enough Kagami-kun.” 

“Let me love you,” he whispered in his ear, his tongue flicking out and making contact with the skin there. “Tetsuya.”

Suddenly, a strange sounding song started playing from the speaker: something warm and soft with twanging voices crooning over soft drums, clearly American music. Kagami pulled back and smiled down at Tetsuya. Before he could react or ask what song played, he was suddenly in the air. Instinctively, he locked his legs around Kagami’s waist, not that Kagami would ever intentionally drop him, but it was sudden. Kagami swayed them back and forth, humming along as he walked them out of the living room, the music grower fainter. 

The only word Tetsuya could make out was “love”, before Kagami kissed him so tenderly his toes curled. He laid Tetsuya down gently, holding most of his own weight so Tetsuya wouldn’t be crushed. When Kagami’s tongue grazed his own, Tetsuya gave up any hope of talking Kagami down. Kagami charged forward, as always.

“You’re quiet. Do you not like this?” He punctuated the question by rubbing himself against Tetsuya’s entrance. He was hard again, maybe harder than he had been in the living room.

Kagami reached for Tetsuya’s arms before he could recover from the searing kiss and held them above his head. He ground against him again, staring right at Tetsuya’s face. He avoided the pressure of Kagami’s gaze by turning his head and closing his eyes. Of course he liked it, But he couldn’t tell Kagami that; it was too embarrassing, and he knew Kagami would never let him live it down. 

“Tetsuya, look at me.” 

His firm yet cajoling tone made Tetsuya comply with the request and what he saw made his painfully erect member drip precum. Kagami’s thick eyebrows pinched in concentration and his mouth was slick from their kiss. He looked  like he was in the zone, his focus lasered in on Tetsuya and the strength of his desire flashing like crimson lightning in his dark eyes. He rose suddenly, pulling his shirt off in one fluid movement, and when it was gone Tetsuya could see his chest heaving slightly. 

Kagami let go of one of Tetsuya’s hands, bringing the other to his chest. A strong, galloping heartbeat thudded underneath hot, tight skin. “You drive me crazy too, so don’t feel embarrassed.”

Him knowing what Tetsuya’s discomfort stemmed from made him want to look away more. He tried to look away but Kagami leaned forward, knocking their foreheads together. “I won’t let you be a phantom.”

Tetsuya could see his startled reaction reflected in the flashes of lightning in Kagami’s eyes. He opened his mouth to respond, but Kagami kissed him again, his tongue plunging into his mouth.. Tetsuya felt like he was melting from the outside in and just when he couldn’t quite breathe anymore, Kagami licked his teeth before pulling away. “Stop hiding, please.”

“… Taiga.”

If you enjoyed this…

Please feel free to leave a comment and/or like this post! If you have more detailed feedback, you can submit a message on the Contact page.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this far, and especially  for pseu looking over my Kuroko excerpt🥰

Remember to subscribe to stay updated, and check out my Twitter and Instagram for more BL content💋

@fujoshitings2020