"Hold the Sugar"

By stalactice

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with 'Kuroko no Basuke.' That belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi. Only the OC is mine. I also have no connections to Relient K. Please support the official release of both the series and the artist. And if I had any stock in pocky do you think I would be writing fanfiction? (Correct answer: no.) Carry on.

Music Inspiration: "Must Have Done Something Right" by Relient K

"I don't like sweets."

Leave it to Murasakibara Atsushi to develop his first crush since elementary school on a girl who did not like sweets. Atsushi pulled his bag of convenience store confectioneries closer to his chest as if to protect them from her harsh words.

Himuro Tatsuya, head thrown back in a full guffaw as they walked from the courtyard back to the main building, found it pretty freaking hysterical. "I mean, come on, Atsushi, you have to admit it's kind of funny."

No, Murasakibara did not find it funny as he chomped on another hard candy. "Just because we're friends, Muro-chin, doesn't mean I won't crush you," he explained blandly.

Holding up his hands in mock surrender, Himuro countered, "It's just…of all the girls in school she is one of the least likely I thought you would like."

It wasn't as if Atsushi did it on purpose. After all, second year Akiyama Keiko was many things that Murasakibara typically despised.

One: she was unnecessarily tidy. Not that Atsushi was a slob, but Keiko was determined to keep everything just so. Many of the other students, Himuro included, envied her ability to fit all of her schoolwork into her backpack without it ever bulging. Atsushi once heard a rumor that her notes always stayed inside the margins of her paper, not a stroke out of place, although he was fairly certain this was an exaggeration. Her long, honey-brown hair never – and this is not an exaggeration, Atsushi saw it with his own eyes daily – got in her face. Sure, she cycled through different styles each day, but everyone knew Keiko would not let her hair down.

Two: she was ridiculously competitive with her scores. Why did people like her and Kiyoshi insist on putting in so much effort?

Three: she was the treasurer for the student council. It was simply another thing for Atsushi to check off that, yes, she was an overachiever.

But, despite all that, he still found that whenever she passed him in the cafeteria or in the halls, Atsushi felt calmer. Maybe it was the smoothness of her walk or the confidence in her dark brown eyes, but, really, Murasakibara should not be attracted to her.

The sweets thing was almost a deal breaker, though. When Atsushi relayed this little tidbit to Himuro, the dark-haired shooting guard tried to give his violet-haired teammate a comforting pat on the head, but had to settle for reaching his shoulder.

"Don't let it get you down, Atsushi," Himuro attempted to console, though Murasakibara simply continued munching on his last stash of pocky. "Hey, I know this is short notice, but I won't be able to eat lunch with you tomorrow." At Atsushi's sudden accusatory look, Himuro sighed, "It's for a class project." The center showed no signs of changing his demeanor. "How about this? I know you're out of allowance for this week and that's your last pocky."

Atsushi raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I'm listening.'

Himuro smirked.

Murasakibara peered down at the package of pocky in his right hand morosely. "Muro-chin bought the wrong flavor…"

"Excuse me," a disembodied voice called from behind Atsushi. He glanced over his shoulder only to find no one there. "Ahem," the voice cleared their throat. "I'm sorry, Murasakibara-san." A second later, her figure appeared in his line of sight.

Atsushi was ready for this day to be over already. Not only was he wholly unprepared to actually have a conversation with his crush – though, he will have you know that he only admitted it to be such after much kicking and screaming – but he had the wrong flavor of pocky as his backup.

Keiko folded her hands behind her back and entreated with a bowed head, "Will you please lend me 100 yen? I promise I will pay you back."

Of all the things that Atsushi thought the student council treasurer would want from him, this was not one of them.

Dropping the disgraced flavor of pocky into the right pocket of his slacks, Murasakibara avoided looking at Keiko in favor of staring out a nearby window. "Eh~. Sorry, Aki-chin, but I spent all of my allowance last week. I had to ask Muro-chin to buy me a snack today."

Her large brown eyes glanced up at him with a mixture of disappointment and confusion. "Aki-chin?" she tested the nickname on her tongue and probably wondered why this first-year completely bypassed the honorific with a slight frown. Atsushi would never admit out loud that her may or may not have found it to be a little cute – especially to Himuro (he would never let him live it down). "I see," Keiko added with a sigh but recovered quickly. "Thank you for your time, Murasakibara-san."

As she turned on her heel to head back to the staircase that led to the second years' corridor, Atsushi spoke up with a hint of curiosity, "Why does Aki-chin need money?"

She flipped around on the turn of a dime, mouth slightly pinched and huffed. "I punched the wrong code into the vending machine and I was only off by one number and I would have paid again but I'm 100 yen short and-and-and" Keiko rambled, chest heaving. It was unusual for anyone to see the uptight treasurer lose her cool (if only a little), let alone Murasakibara Atsushi. Atsushi really wished Muro-chin was here for this, because, in all honesty, the shooting guard was so much better at putting people at ease, especially women.

But, then again, Himuro might also just leave Atsushi to his own devices for the sake of entertainment.

"And normally I wouldn't have minded eating whatever the machine spat out at me," she continued, managing to sound even more flustered and upset with each passing word. "But," her hand disappeared into the small bag at her hip, "it gave me this."

When her hand reemerged, Atsushi almost dropped his bag of snacks in shock and, dare he say it, elation. She had his flavor of pocky.

"I just wanted a bag of chips. I don't even like pocky," Keiko sighed and despairingly shoved the box back into her bag.

Before Atsushi could really register what was happening, his feet had already carried him to the other end of the hall and he was spouting, "I'll trade you." He tried to open his sack, but in his enthusiasm (what the hell is going on?! These are emotions Kiyoshi had, not him!) he ripped it at the handles. Half a dozen bags of chips fell to the floor with light crunches. Atsushi blinked at his fallen snacks for several seconds before turning back to his crush. "Pick one, Aki-chin," he ordered.

She gawked, attention switching rapidly between the sheer number of snacks he had and the – admittedly – rather ridiculous request he made. A moment later, she righted herself, smoothing her skirt out from (by everyone's measure of her) kicking up a fuss and stated stiffly, "I'd like the peanut flavored ones, please."

Atsushi picked up and cradled his stash of snacks in his left arm while he held out the one she wanted with his right hand. She gingerly took the offered bag and retrieved her unwanted box of pocky. Lather, rinse, repeat. And, finally, both parties had their preferred snacks.

Her brown eyes lit up with gratitude and once again, she bowed. Atsushi thought she was way too intense about formalities. "Thank you very much, Murasakibara-san."

"Thanks, Aki-chin."

Keiko nodded and disappeared into the stairwell. The bell rang and Atsushi meandered back to his classroom.

Back in his seat, he folded his arms across the desk and dropped his forehead into the crook of his elbow. Murasakibara's lips twitched upwards because he knew she probably did not realize the splash of red on her cheeks after she took off with the chips.

The next day Himuro joined Murasakibara for lunch in the cafeteria. Atsushi always chose a table by a window so he could watch the clouds drift by while he munched. That day, he lackadaisically took bites out of the maiubo his older sister was generous enough to sneak into his backpack while their mother was not looking.

Himuro plopped down in the seat next to him and made small talk with some of the other team members that occasionally tagged along.

Their chatter died down unexpectedly, though Atsushi did not pay too much attention to it since his maiubo was almost gone and he needed to focus on savoring the last few bites he had. He was not going to have enough money to buy another case for another four days so he had to make the best of what he had. The snap of something against the table to his left stirred him from his snack. It was really annoying; almost annoying enough to cru–

Had it be anyone other than her, they would have been dead. At least, that's what Atsushi told himself as one of his favorite junk foods on the planet remained planted in his left hand. Keiko stared him down – well, more like directly in the eyes since he was sitting – from her position standing in the gap between his and Himuro's seats. Murasakibara glanced down at where the snap from the table came.

Another package of pocky.

"I think the machine might be broken," Keiko uttered smoothly. "May we trade again, Murasakibara-san?"

She barely had a chance to finish her request before Atsushi had his stash shoved in her face. "Go ahead, Aki-chin."

Atsushi figured she must have already had her sights set on one flavor in particular because Keiko wasted no time snatching a bag up and offering, "Thank you very much, Murasakibara-san." She bowed and turned tail, long braided hair nearly hitting a gaping Himuro in the face in the process, towards a table on the other side of the cafeteria where her friends sat.

Despite his near blow, Himuro cupped his chin in a hand, smirking. "What happened to never letting anything come between you and your maiubo, Atsushi?" he teased. The rest of the team attempted to stifle their snorts.

"Shut up, Muro-chin, or I'll crush you," Murasakibara deadpanned and finished off his maiubo.

She caught up to him before he reached the cafeteria the day after. Her hair was in braided pigtails that day.

Keiko wordlessly held out her box of pocky while Atsushi handed over his bag filled with chips, as if they had gone through this process hundreds of times even though it was only twice. Once she retrieved the flavor of the day she wanted – Atsushi noticed she did not pick the same one again yesterday even though the first one was there for the taking – she bowed politely, "I apologize for inconveniencing you, Murasakibara-san. Thank you for the chips."

Before she could fully turn around, Atsushi piped up, "Muro-chin calls me 'Atsushi'."

She tilted her chin up at him, brown eyes pensive. "Would you like me to call you that?"

Atsushi opened the box of pocky and popped one in his mouth, balancing it between his tongue and teeth. With a shrug he said, "Only if Aki-chin wants to." And there was that blush again. Atsushi wanted to take a picture with his phone, but remembered that his sister promised to beat him to a pulp if he ever did that without someone's permission. So, his memory would have to do. "Can I still call you 'Aki-chin'?"

Her response was a toothy grin and small, throaty chuckle. "Of course. Thanks again for the chips…Atsushi-kun."

They strolled down to the cafeteria in companionable silence before branching off to their respective tables. When Atsushi took his seat to Himuro's right, he warned flatly, "Muro-chin…"

"I didn't say anything," Himuro defended, hiding his blooming grin behind his hand and fork.

After Murasakibara finished his pocky, Himuro nudged him with an elbow. "Congrats, Atsushi."

"For what?"

"Huh? Aren't you guys going out, yet?" Himuro raised his visible eyebrow.

"No. Aki-chin gave me her pocky and I gave her some chips," Murasakibara stated matter-of-factly.

Himuro blinked at him before dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter and shouting, "Eh?!"

For all Himuro's efforts to help Atsushi 'get the girl' as he called it – Atsushi was pretty sure everyone else in the world called it 'asking someone out' – Keiko beat him to the punch. At lunch. In front of the rest of the basketball team.

Oh, and the rest of that lunch block. (So, naturally, the whole school knew by the end of the period.)

"I would like to get to know you better, Atsushi-kun," she presented to him while dropping off that day's dose of pocky.

The shooting guard dropped his head into his palms and moaned to himself, "I spend two weeks prepping him to ask her out and she just waltzes over here and does it herself like it's nothing."

Atsushi glanced between Keiko and the pocky on the table and wondered aloud, "Can Aki-chin and I still exchange pocky and chips every day? Does that go away if we go out?"

The redness started creeping into her cheeks, but she continued to speak as if it did not matter, "No, it won't go away. I brought you this today, didn't I, Atsushi-kun?"

"Yay~," Murasakibara clapped unenthusiastically and ripped open the packaging for the confectionary. "Can we hang out this weekend, Aki-chin?" he tacked on with a hint of hopefulness.

"Certainly. We'll exchange numbers after school." At this point, her face was beet red, but it did not even faze her. Keiko clicked her heels together as she turned around and headed towards the table with her giggling friends, her unbound hair swinging gently down her back. Atsushi was not sure if anyone else noticed that difference, but he definitely did. Of all the hairstyles, he liked this one the best.

When she left his immediate line of sight, Atsushi returned his attention to his pocky and his friend. Snapping off a bit of the stick, Murasakibara hummed, "Look, Muro-chin, I got a girlfriend."

Himuro, with his face still buried in his hands, muttered with a touch of dismay, "Finally."

Atsushi smiled around the rest of his treat. Even if his girlfriend did not like sweets, he was more than willing to pick up the slack.

Author's notes:

Akiyama Keiko literally means "autumn mountain respectful child." [See (behindthename . com) for more details if you're interested.]

Cheesy story is cheesy. Oh, jeez, I literally threw this together in a couple of hours because I had to get it off my chest and out of my notes.

So, this is the first time I've written anything for KnB so I hope I kept everyone in character. If not, please let me know so that I can fix it.

Any who, I hope you all enjoyed reading this. I apologize for any grammar mistakes, but I'm only human. If you have any critiques/constructive criticism or just want to drop a note, please feel free. I really appreciate whatever reviews I get.

For those that are waiting for the next chapter of "Sea Foam," I estimate I am about 75% done with the next chapter. As always, thank you for your patience.

Thank you for reading!