Nigou stares at Taiga as if in defiance, wiggling and leaning on his front paws, body entirely covered in mud.

He barks once, playfully, and Taiga's heart rate goes awry for a few seconds because some things really won't ever change, but he calms down easily enough.

He takes a couple of careful steps towards the dog.

"C'mon, Nigou," he says, trying to sound friendly and nice and trustworthy, "you like taking baths! Kuroko bathes you all the time!"

The dog wags its tail at him in a particular way and lolls its tongue out, and that makes it look like it's laughing at him. And Taiga wouldn't put it past him, to be completely honest. The mutt takes way too much after his owner and namesake.

He's about to grab the dog when it jumps, tail wagging fast, and making Taiga stumble over his own feet and land on his own ass on a particularly muddy patch of the floor.

"You little-," he tries to get up but slips on a puddle and ends up sprawled on his stomach.

Nigou barks at him some more, and jumps around, little paws leaving mud paw prints and fur dripping everywhere.

Taiga keeps trying to catch the damned dog for what feels like an eternity, and there's a moment where Nigou slips out of his hold by whining pitifully at him and feigning to be hurt- thus making him let go instantly and start apologizing up till the demon stops faking and scampers off, throwing him a look that's much too smug to belong to a freaking household pet, and Taiga is just about ready to throw the towel and just let the dog be, mud and dirt and everything.

That's when Kuroko arrives, letting himself in with the key Taiga gave him for emergencies, stopping on his tracks after closing the door behind him to take in the sight of the living room, dirty and in complete disarray, the sofa's cushions carelessly scattered around, one of them with a stark little brown paw print in the middle of it, Taiga sitting on his ass in the middle of a mud puddle, face and arms and legs streaked with dirt, and Nigou-

Nigou sitting in the middle of it all with twinkling blue eyes, ears flicking softly once or twice as Kuroko gives him an assessing glance.

"Nigou, you shouldn't tease Kagami-kun this much," he berates the dog softly.

Nigou makes a whiny noise in reply then that has Taiga dropping his mouth open because he sounded apologetic.

"You should wait for us in the bathroom," Kuroko says, and Taiga thinks the words were directed at him for a few seconds, but then Nigou wags his tail once and… goes. To the bathroom. On his own.

Taiga stared at him, spluttering a bit.

"That impish little-,"

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko interrupts him, and when Taiga looks back at him he's giving him those damned puppy eyes of his that Taiga's so utterly weak to, "please be kind to our puppy."

"Puppy? Kuroko, that dog is probably taller than you if it stands on its hind legs! That thing's no longer a puppy!"

Kuroko frowns at Taiga's observations, lips pulling the slightest bit downwards and oh no, here it comes, Taiga is already feeling like a dick.

"Nigou is a puppy," Kuroko tells him,,"he's our puppy. He's just big. Like Kagami-kun. I am appalled that you would treat him badly just for his size."

Taiga feels chastised for all of a second but then he's narrowing his eyes at Kuroko.

"I am not treating Nigou badly," he says, "I just wanted to bath him! He tracked all kinds of stuff in from his walk. But he's a slippery little-"

Kuroko blinks at him with intent.

"-puppy?" Taiga finishes.

Kuroko nods at him, pleased, and starts walking towards the bathroom. Taiga watches his back for a few seconds, and it's because of the way they've come to known each other so well these past years that Taiga recognizes the minute way his shoulders are trembling, as if Kuroko was working extra hard on suppressing the motion.

He crawls as fast as he can manage on the slippery floor and takes hold of one of the scattered cushions before throwing it directly at Kuroko's head.

Kuroko stumbles forward a couple of steps as the cushion hits its target dead center, and then he seems to just let go as Taiga yells at him, shoulders shaking as he laughs quietly, hiding his face with his arm.

"Kuroko, you asshole," he throws another cushion at the guy, but he manages to duck in time, and then he's disappearing behind the bathroom's door, where a third cushion promptly impacts.

"I'm sorry," Kuroko tells him later, once he's finished giving Nigou his bath, appearing as abruptly as he ever seems to do at his side with a rag to help Taiga wipe the mud from… everything. "I couldn't resist."

Taiga grunts, cheeks flushing slightly. He isn't even angry anymore, but Kuroko can be such a little shit sometimes, and Taiga thinks it's maybe in his best interest to at least put up the act like it annoys him.

Then, Kuroko, because he is Kuroko, says: "sometimes Kagami-kun is just as cute as Nigou and I can't help myself."

Taiga nearly accidentally slaps himself in the face with his cleaning rag then.

"How can you say things so embarrassing with such a straight face?!" He inquires, looking at Kuroko, face warm enough that Taiga could probably fry an egg on one cheek.

Kuroko smiles at him, one of those rare full blown smiles that light him up enough to make him seem like the only source of light in the room, no matter how he claims to be 'a shadow', no matter where they are or whom with.

Taiga's tongue feels big and clumsy in his mouth, his hands feel sweaty, and he's too aware of the entire expanse of his body, as Kuroko leans in, a shoulder brushing against Taiga's arm, giving him goosebumps from the contact even with the thin layer of cotton between their skins.

"Maybe Kagami-kun isn't embarrassing enough," Kuroko says then, and Taiga holds his breath without consciously meaning to, because he sounds so inviting, and the words don't really make a lot of sense, only they do.

He doesn't know who leans in first; could've been him, could've been Kuroko, could've been the both of them. He just knows the heat coiling deep inside of him, swirling, and the wet, warm touch of Kuroko's lips on his, slightly chapped but perfect.

Taiga has only ever kissed Alex, and those kisses have always been chaste and platonic, so he isn't the most experienced guy around, but even he can tell that this is going well, that the way their lips are brushing against each other's is pleasant and more, so much more, and Taiga has never really wanted much, but as he lets the rag go to grab the sides of Kuroko's face he does. He wants a lot. He doesn't even know what, but he sighs into the kiss and feels content and still wants.

Kuroko breaks the kiss, pulling backwards softly.

He looks disheveled, lips already swollen and tinged red, drawing Taiga's gaze to them for a few seconds. His eyes are bright and big and deeper than Taiga remembers them being. He looks so incredibly happy.

He looks away from Taiga for a second and then the corner of his lips tilts upwards in a tiny playful smile.

"Kagami-kun, it makes me extremely happy to see you're so passionate, but maybe you should tone it down in front of our puppy. We don't want to traumatize him. That would make us terrible parents."

Nigou barks at them happily, walking up to them to curl himself as close to Taiga as he probably feels he can get away with without Taiga inching away.

Taiga is left blushing to the roots of his hair and stuttering at Kuroko, and when the smaller shoulders start trembling again, he grabs the rag that had fallen to the floor and throws it at his face.

"Damn you, Kuroko."

It dawns on him while he's stirring the curry, Kuroko playing with Nigou a few feet away.

He lets the wooden spoon clatter on the counter and turns around abruptly enough that both Kuroko and Nigou's eyes are already on him when he start talking.

"What do you mean, 'our puppy'? 'That would make us terrible parents?' Kuroko?"

Nigou looks much too judgemental of his observational skills for a dog who keeps barking at his own reflection on windows.

Kuroko just blinks at him a couple times.

"Your curry, Kagami-kun," he says after a while, and Taiga curses under his breath and goes back to stirring.

When he feels arms around his waist a minute or so later, and Kuroko's forehead resting on his back, he flushes, but keeps going on about his business.

"I," he starts, voice a little rough, and Kuroko's arms tighten around him. He clears his throat and goes on, "I don't notice things sometimes, okay. But I am not- It's not like I'm- I don't-"

Kuroko rubs his nose on Taiga's back, effectively silencing him. Taiga checks on his curry for something to do, and then looks at the rice cooker even though he knows it works perfectly.

"I know," Kuroko sounds quiet against him, his shirt muffling his words, "I like that part of you too, Kagami-kun."

"Okay," Taiga nods.

There's a few moments of silence as Taiga lowers the heat under the pot.

"Does this mean you'll start taking proper care of our child?" Kuroko says, completely deadpan, and Taiga, in the middle of tasting the curry, almost chokes.

He coughs a couple of times and then reaches an arm around himself to grab at Kuroko's head.

"You little shit."