"You okay, Akashi-kun?" Momoi carefully handed over the red towel to their captain. "You look exhausted more than usual"

Akashi looked up to the pink-haired manager from his seat and nodded whilst hand silently received the towel. "I'm okay. Thank you for asking"

Momoi bit her lower lip in uncertainty. After all, seeing the mighty captain of Teikou Middle School Basketball Club worn out from their usual vigorous practice wasn't okay when you were their manager. "Are you sure?"

Didn't want to get any question, Akashi remarked Momoi's worries short and sharp. "I just didn't have enough sleep last night"

The thought of Akashi Seijuro lacking sleep was not to Momoi's imagination but since it seemed that Akashi didn't want her to pry further, Momoi chose to shut herself up. She scooted away from her captain and back to her business taking care of the obnoxious team member –such as Aomine Daiki.

What Akashi didn't know was, instead of shunning Momoi away, his peculiar short answer managed to attract one particular member.

Connect

by fancyshipper

random alternate fandom akakuro

"It's rare for you to ask this of me, Tetsuya", Akashi breathed out his prologue as he saw Kuroko had already done putting his belonging to the locker. "What's wrong?"

There were only the two of them in the locker room –just like what Kuroko wanted to be. Practice had finished half an hour ago and each of the members had already gone home. Earlier between their practices, Kuroko had requested Akashi not to go home right away due to important things to be discussed, in private. Curious, Akashi complied and stayed longer in the locker room.

Kuroko then sat on the bench next to Akashi. His face stared blankly at the lockers, not minding the suspicious look thrown by heterochromatic eyes from his right side.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping your conversation with Momoi-san earlier but..", Kuroko mumbled with head now slumped down to face the floor. "May I know why didn't you get enough sleep last night, Akashi-kun?"

Dismissing the idea of Kuroko trying to eavesdrop him, one of Akashi's eyebrows etched higher in wonder. "And why do you want to know about that?"

"Because..", Kuroko's answer trailed off. A hesitation shadowed his blue-marbles when Akashi tried to coax any information from the expressionless boy. "I think we have the same symptom"

"Oh?" Akashi's thin lips crooked ever so slightly, forming a hidden tug of smile. "And the symptom leads us to?"

"Some kind of… dream connection?" Kuroko lifted up his head only to see a face of Akashi filled up with fascination.

This is interesting. Akashi tried to muffle a chuckle. As much as he lacked sleep recently, Akashi couldn't dismiss the idea of the ever logical Kuroko Tetsuya starting to eat up superstitious stuffs and witchcraft talk.

Kuroko started to regret his decision to come to Akashi –only based on the assumption that Akashi had the same experience as him.

"I'm sorry please forget what I've said", Kuroko hid his pout and decided to go home right away. He was so sure Akashi would make this conversation as a material for verbal bullying in the future between the two of them –and alas, it had been known that Akashi's humiliation would last for months as for the record.

"Wait, Tetsuya", Akashi tried to reach for the other teen. "I will not try to mock you for this but you can share it with me if you want. I promise"

Kuroko seemed to think about it for awhile and seated himself back on the bench. "Promise?"

"Promise", Akashi nodded firmly. He was, indeed, lacking sleep recently, so hearing Kuroko's problem would be a little bit insightful to his own problem.

Kuroko tried to calm himself a bit before starting to confess about his sleeping complication.

"I've been lacking sleep nowadays and it's so weird because it feels like I do sleep when actually I think I'm not sleeping at all"

Akashi's eyebrow furrowed together. Kuroko stared at the red head in a hope he wouldn't get any mockery look anymore.

"It's like I've been trapping myself in a dream.."

Akashi scooted closer to Kuroko, a hint of interest perked up inside his head. "A dream which seemed so real and it was so exhausting?"

Kuroko turned his head to the direction of cautious Akashi. "Y-yes and I was on the dream-"

"-being a complete different character?"

Akashi cut his sentence in way to make Kuroko's blue marbles widened. Just as I thought.

"You happened to encounter the same thing as mine, weren't you, Akashi-kun?"

Akashi's heterochromatic eyes turned to a slit of gold and red –unable to comprehend the matter at hands. To think that earlier he tried to gibe the other teen and now he realized that their condition was no different to each others.

Akashi was so in denial. "It's been two days for me"

Kuroko's breath hitched in agreement. "The first one is kind of vague and I'm not really sure if I remember it but the second one is.."

Akashi avoided the stare from the blue haired boy and chose to hide his face away.

"..a dream in Doraemon world"

The sound of exasperated sigh slipped out from the red head. Kuroko's face brightened as he knew his decision wasn't a mistake. That was it. It was all confirmed. Both of them were experiencing the same thing.

"Akashi-kun?"

Akashi plopped his head down and softly mumbled. "But it's only been two days and who knows if tonight we can have our sleeps back?"

More than anyone, Kuroko knew very well how Akashi evaded his defeat.

"Shall we go home now?"

Seeing that they didn't have anything particular to talk more, Kuroko nodded to Akashi's invitation –he didn't want to engage in further conversation with an enraged Akashi Seijuro though. As much as they needed the solution to their problematic sleeps, the answer would be provided after the end of the night.

On the way to the school gate, Kuroko glanced to the red head a bit and carefully brought up the topic again.

"Being a complete different character..", Kuroko softly muttered. "Last night, in the dream, it was all foreign and it felt like I was casted to be…"

Akashi turned his head to Kuroko in curiosity. Kuroko shyly bit his lip. "…Shizuka"

Akashi's heterochromatic eyes blinked once. And then twice.

"…ta"

"I'm sorry?"

"In the dream, I was there too", Akashi walked faster, leaving a scenery of his shadowed back to Kuroko who walked behind in curiosity. "As Nobita"