©dwindling flame

Hi everyone. o3o. How are you all? I told you all I would return to you and here I am, trying to get all of my ideas down. I will have you know that all of my multi-chapter stories are on hiatus until I can rewrite them. I have documents where I'm trying to get all my plans together to finish them. So while we wait, I can try to give you a few one shots and short stories for now. How does that sound? Don't expect a lot. College life is getting busier.

So! I am here with a new fandom for you all. I've only written Reborn fanfics lately and after completely falling in love with Kurobasu in the past few months, I know have more ideas for this fandom than I do for Reborn… but don't worry; I'll try to give both series some lovin'.

This is just a short oneshot based off of a cute image drawn by Yuu-know on tumblr. Her art is gorgeous so you should all go to her tumblr, explore, and comment on how cute everything she does it. (:

And the picture I got the idea from is /post/26214749955. I already asked her (like… a longggg time ago) anonymously if it was okay to make a fic based off the picture, and she has approved.

Library Committee

Kuroko stared down at the book in his hands before glancing back up to the shelf before him, looking for its correct location. Finding the proper serial number on the shelf near his hip, he bent down and pushed the book in between two similar books. Keeping his back slouched over, Kuroko looked at the next book in his arms, knowing that it should be relatively close by. A slim finger traced against the spine of that book as it was placed neatly on the shelf.

Standing, the shadow of Seirin high's basketball team walked back over to his cart of returned books and searched through the stack for books that should be in the same general area. As he located another book, he reached up to the shelf about an arms length above him. Frowning, the short male stood on the tip of his toes, trying to force the book back into its proper position. Of course, with a little work, straining, and a bit of luck, the book slid into place.

Kuroko released the breath he didn't realize he was holding. Frowning up at the shelf, which was the third shelf from the top, he remembered why he was always disliked being stuck with restocking duties.

As a member of the library committee, Kuroko would at times volunteer to watch over the library with a few other students during free periods or at the end of the day. Each student was given a different task. Of course, restocking isn't exactly a club favorite, so all of the better positions (front desk receptionist, re-labeler, general cleaning, etc) were usually claimed, leaving the restocking to the easily unnoticed blue haired boy.

Sighing, Kuroko simply returned back to the cart. There wasn't anything he could do about his lack of presence. He enjoyed helping don't get him wrong. He wouldn't have any problems with putting the books away if it wasn't for the fact that the top two shelves were completely out of his reach and the lovely little stool the library had went missing.

Kuroko pushed the cart to the other side of the shelf, looking at the serial numbers as began with his next set of books.

The silence of the library was disturbed momentarily when a few students walked in the door, talking quietly among themselves. Kuroko peaked out from behind the shelf, noticing that they were members of the soccer club.

Practice must have just gotten out for them.

Kuroko resumed his task, letting his mind wander to his team. Usually, they have practice every day after school, however with exams coming up, Riko decided that grades were far more important, especially with the upper classmen entering their senior year. University applications would have to be sent off soon and so bad grades definitely wouldn't be acceptable. So of course, she reduced practice to twice during the week and on the weekends.

Today was one of those off days where she left with Hyuuga to study together. Kuroko almost disliked the off days. He missed seeing the team practice. He missed watching them improve. Most of all, he missed watching the smile on Kagami's face when he gets lost in the moment of a practice match.

Kuroko's grip tightened slightly on the book he was holding as his thoughts were suddenly filled with his red haired light. Kagami was supposed to come by the library at some point that day. Kuroko spent the most of his time waiting for him. He would find himself glancing at the entrance to the library every 5 minutes just to catch a glimpse of his tall partner.

Kuroko bit his bottom lip before adding the book to the shelf. Trying to clear his mind of Kagami, Kuroko focused on his task. The cart was slowly emptying with only a few more books remaining. Pushing it to the next shelf, Kuroko noticed that two of the books was going to have to be returned to the top shelf.

'Of course…' he thought bitterly. Sighing, Kuroko looked around for something useful to stand on. The cart was out of the question. The table would have been great if only it was a little bit closer. It was too big to move so that wasn't going to work. His last option was of course, the chairs. He would have loved the idea if it weren't for the fact that they did have standard four legged chairs; they had chairs with an upward slant, allowing the chair to rock back.

Ah well. Better than nothing.

Grabbing the closest chair, Kuroko brought it as close to the shelf as possible. Securing the books in his arms, Kuroko stepped onto the soft cushions in the seat. The chair rocked a little, hitting against the shelf. Kuroko steadied himself for a moment. Okay, not bad. Grabbing the first book, Kuroko reached up to the shelf.

"Oi! That's not safe."

Kuroko jumped in shock, causing the chair to rattle angrily. Crouching down instantly, Kuroko hugged the back of the chair as he turned his head around, seeing a very sweaty Kagami standing behind him with a bad full of burgers from Magi hung by his arm, one burger, half eaten in one hand and a cup in the other.

Kuroko's face showed no emotion as he tried to slow down his racing heart. Where the hell did Kagami just come from? Kuroko didn't notice or hear him come in at all. Is that what it feels like when he "suddenly appears" and scares the life out of his friends?

Maybe he was rubbing off on Kagami.

The red head tilted his head to the side in confusion as he stared at Kuroko who was still clinging to the chair as if it were his first-born child. "Uhh…"

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko greeted, trying to regain his posture. Standing on the chair once more, Kuroko turned back to the shelf, trying to will down the blush forming on his cheeks.

Kagami looked too cute with his face full of unhealthy burgers.

"H-hey. Let me help you with that."

Kuroko heard the other male shuffling behind him. Kuroko glanced over his shoulder, watching as Kagami walked over to a table and placed the cup on its surface.

"Ah. I brought you a vanilla shake. It might have gotten a little warm on the way back here but it should be okay." Kagami started, talking causally. Kuroko turned back to the shelf, reaching up with the book. "And you have to eat one of these burgers. No complaining."

Kuroko noticed with great irritation that he was just a few inches too short, still.

Looking down to his feet, he brought his right leg up to the handle of the chair. He only needed a short boost. The book was so close…

"H-hey! I said I would help!"

"Thank you, Kagami-kun. I can do it."

Kuroko put his weight onto his right leg as he pushed up on the chair. The book started to slide into place as Kuroko tried to bring his left leg up to the opposite handle to keep his weight balanced.

But of course, the chair didn't feel like waiting for him to get ready.

"K-Kuroko!"

"E-eh?"

Kuroko blinked as the chair began to tip over to the side. On instinct, he felt the need to grab at something. The only thing he could reach for was the top of the shelf. However, his hands could only grab the books located on the shelf. Of course, that did nothing but upset the delicate order of organized books.

So instead of making the situation better, Kuroko soon found himself, and the books he grabbed falling rapidly to the ground.

Kuroko could hear Kagami's worried cry as the tall read haired man lunged forward in order to catch his short teammate. Kuroko closed his eyes and waited for the impact of the ground.

He didn't have to wait long.

He connected painfully to the ground, landing on his right shoulder.

"Fuuuuc-!"

Kuroko wanted to tell Kagami that such foul language wasn't necessary, but found his words dying on his lips as he watched Kagami trip over the fallen books and ended up charging face first into the shelf. Kuroko rolled on to his back, staring silently as Kagami crouched down to the ground, cradling his abused face.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!"

Kuroko blinked. "Kagami-kun. You are amazing when it comes to catching my passes… yet somehow you are terrible at catching me…"

Kagami's attention snapped back to him. "Sh-shut up!" a blush formed on Kagami's cheeks. "I told you to wait for me to do it anyway!"

Kuroko groaned as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Kagami blinked. "A-ah. It's okay!" Kagami clumsily began to scramble to his feet, grabbing some books along the way.

Kuroko followed his lead, albeit with a lot more grace. Picking up the last few books, Kuroko glanced up at his partner who moved towards the shelf where Kuroko was located. Kuroko instinctively moved back only to find himself trapped between Kagami and the bookshelf behind him. "Kagami-kun…"

Kagami blinked, looking down to his partner. Why was he moving away? "Just hand me the books and I'll put them back."

Kuroko stared blankly at Kagami, feeling the books on the shelf pressing into his back. "O-okay." Kuroko looked down to the books in his arms as he felt Kagami shuffle near him. "Make sure they are returned to the proper spot based on the serial number…"

Kagami smiled down at him before reaching up to place the books back on the shelf. "Will do." The smaller boy had yet to look back up at him. Kagami placed the books in his arms back on the shelf with relative ease. Reaching towards Kuroko's chest, he tenderly plucked one of the books from his arms.

Kuroko peaked up at Kagami who was putting the books back without need to stretch to reach the second to last shelf. Kuroko's eyes trailed down from Kagami's long, muscular arms down to his well-toned and strong shoulders. His eyes made contact with the creamy expanse of skin on Kagami's neck.

Said boy happened to swallow at that moment, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. Kuroko vaguely wondered what it would be like to cover that thick, strong neck with kis-

Kuroko's thoughts were interrupted when Kagami's fingers brushed against his as the taller boy took the last book from his grasp. Kuroko felt his cheeks flush. He was having some pretty indecent thoughts that he couldn't seem to control. It didn't exactly help that Kagami had moved a bit closer to him in order to reach the very top shelf and place the book above Kuroko's head.

"Nng… Why are these shelves so damn high?"

Kagami reached up with his free hand to push the neighboring books to the side. He stood on the tip of his toes in order to push the book in place. Smiling triumphantly, he looked down to Kuroko to ask for praise, because he was a helpful boy after all, but his words caught in his throat upon seeing the look on Kuroko's face.

Kuroko stared up at him with his usually emotionless stare, however coupled with the pink blush on his cheeks, where was a slightly dark gaze in his eyes that Kagami didn't exactly understand. The look was so out of place on Kuroko that Kagami felt his heart pounding in his chest. Freezing slightly, Kagami simply stared. He didn't even bother to lower his arms from the top of the shelf.

Kagami wanted to say something to him. What would he say though? He had no idea.

Licking his lips unconsciously, his gaze trailed down to Kuroko's lips, which were slightly parted as if the boy was also searching for something to say.

At least he wasn't the only person feeling this way…

Kuroko noticed the direction of Kagami's gaze. Somewhere deep inside of him, there was an explosion of hope. Was Kagami thinking what he thought he was thinking?

Trying to urge the boy on, Kuroko allowed his gaze to drop to Kagami's own lips, watching as they slowly parted, allowing a thick pink tongue to trail along the plump lower lip. God, Kuroko really wanted a taste.

The air around the two boys suddenly grew thick as their hearts began to simultaneous race. Kagami moved his body a bit closer to Kuroko's, keeping his hands on the top shelf. Their bodies touched ever so slightly, sending a spark of electricity down Kuroko's spine. Kuroko's fingers twisted into his own shirt, fearing what might happen if he touched Kagami directly.

They were too close.

Kuroko brought his eyes back up to Kagami's, locking their eyes together.

Bad choice.

Kagami's eyes were completely glazed over with something that made Kuroko shudder. The red haired male pressed closer to Kuroko, flattening their bodies together as he pushed Kuroko further against the books behind him.

Kuroko's grip on his shirt tightened as they were suddenly trapped between their bodies. Kuroko couldn't look away from Kagami as the taller boy lowered his head. Heat rushed faster to Kuroko's cheeks.

He was getting closer.

Unable to tear his eyes away from his light, Kuroko kept his gaze steady. He was so drawn in by the look in Kagami's eyes that he couldn't even watch the lips that were getting ever so close to his own.

All he could do was wait for the feel of Kagami's lips pressing against his own.

However, at that exact moment, the students who had walked in a few moments ago began to make a rather loud exit, shocking Kagami out of his stupor.

Now, anyone who knew Kuroko would also know that it takes a lot to anger him. He doesn't show his anger very often unless someone he cares about is being hurt by dirty methods. Even after all that he has been through with Seirin, Kuroko has yet to truly feel hatred for anyone.

However, on this day, Kuroko hated those students with every fiber of his being.

Kagami hoped away from him so fast, Kuroko was surprised he didn't hurt himself in the process. Kagami's cheeks heated up to the point that his face blended in perfectly with his hair.

"A-ah! I… um." Kagami looked around hastily as if he was looking for something to become his excuse for leaving. The students walked past him towards the exit, glancing at him. Kagami didn't exactly care. "I'll be right b-back."

Kagami turned on his heels, grabbed his bag of sandwiches, and promptly ran out of the library, leaving a very flustered and irritated Kuroko behind.

Do you have any idea how long Kuroko was waiting to feel the texture of Kagami's lips?

A month.

Technically.

A little over a month ago, Kuroko and Kagami somehow managed a very uncomfortable and rushed confession that lead to an awkward hug and a cowardly Kagami who refused to engage in any more PDA outside of Maji Burger.

For that month, the two boys were technically dating, with a very general definition of the word. Nothing really changed between them. Sure, Kagami sat a little closer to him on the benches after practice. Okay, maybe he did stare at him longer when he thought Kuroko wasn't looking. However, that was about it.

Kuroko could understand that something like this was completely new to the both of them. Kuroko never thought for a moment in his life that he would find himself attracted to another man. For some reason, he also felt that Kagami never thought he'd find himself attracted to anyone but basketball.

So, he sympathized for Kagami. The boy may come off as harsh and arrogant sometimes, but he was definitely a child at heart. He was easily flustered and embarrassed. He had no idea what to do in a relationship and to be honest Kuroko wasn't any more knowledgeable.

The main different between the two is that Kuroko was willing to try. He had been dropping hints for the other male for weeks that he wanted to take their relationship to the next level. Holding hands once under the table doesn't count.

He was taking it slow for Kagami's sake. He wanted the other man to make the first move in order to ease him into more advanced levels. So when Kagami seemed to finally be ready, Kuroko was ecstatic.

But no!

Someone had to go and scare him off and Kuroko wasn't sure when the next opportunity would present itself. At this point, Kuroko was going to have to take things into his own hands.

With his lips drawing downward into a small frown, Kuroko made his way over to the now empty cart and pushed it towards the front desk. Walking behind the desk, Kuroko opened the small drop box and noticed that three more books had been returned.

Picking them up, Kuroko carried the books towards the main computer. He sat down in the soft chair, pulling up the software needed to check in the books just returned. Scanning the barcode, it brought up the account of the student who just returned all three of the books. Scanning the barcodes once more, the system automatically recorded the book as "returned".

Hitting save on the profile, Kuroko once again stood in order to stock these last few books. He only had a few more minutes before it was time for him to leave. He would just wait for Kagami to return and leave with him then. That is assuming Kagami comes back.

Kuroko stared blankly at the cart, figuring that he wouldn't need it this time. Walking towards the specified shelf, Kuroko was glad to see that the first book was in an easily accessible area. Returning that book, he made his way down the isles, looking for the next location.

He found it.

The book belonged on the bottom shelf, which was perfect. Kuroko crouched on the ground and pushed the book ion the shelf. One more to go.

Taking a glance at the book, he noticed that it too should be somewhere in the same general area. Tilting his head up, Kuroko prayed that it wasn't going to be the top shelf again.

Of course, his prayers went unnoticed.

Standing with a groan, Kuroko glared at the top shelf. Maybe if he glared at it long enough, it would suddenly become shorter.

Kuroko wasn't sure how long he stood there staring at the shelf wondering if he should just leave the book for someone else to take care of. All he knew is that in just a few seconds, he heard shuffling behind him, followed by a quiet, "Oi, Kuroko."

The small male blinked, looking over his shoulder to see a slightly flustered Kagami walking towards him with something tucked under his arms. His breathing was slightly labored, making Kuroko wonder if the boy had just finished running somewhere.

Kagami said nothing more, tearing his gaze away from Kuroko's soul-searching stare. The pink color in his cheeks deepened as he moved forward, pulling out the strange metal object from out under his arms.

"I-I remember seeing this in one of the utility closets a few days ago…" Kagami revealed a mini three-step stool that he unfolded. Crouching down before the shorter male, Kagami placed the stool in front of his friend. "I j-just couldn't… remember which one it was." He added, his cheeks getting darker when Kuroko did nothing but stare at him. "S-so I uh… ran to… you know…" Kagami stood, rubbing the back of his neck, looking in every other direction but at Kuroko. "…ran to find it."

Kuroko blinked.

And stared.

Long.

Kagami's cheeks puffed up as he crossed his arms over his chest. "A 'thank you, Kagami-kun' would be nice right about now, you know!" Kagami looked away with a huff. "It's rude to stare," he added quietly

Kuroko blinked.

Looking down to the stool before him, Kuroko felt a small smile form on his lips. Stepping up on the stool, Kuroko turned to look at Kagami who was now just a few inches shorter than him. "Kagami-kun."

Kagami stiffened before turning to look at Kuroko. "Wha-?!"

A pair of soft lips silenced his words. Those small lips covered his own, pressing gently against his flesh in a soft, innocent kiss. Kagami's eyes widened as Kuroko moved his head back, separating their lips but not the distance of their bodies. "Thank you."

Kuroko smiled at Kagami, watching as his eyes widened further. His skin began to glow a bright red color that extended from the back of his neck down to his partially exposed chest. Kagami opened his mouth to release a strangled whimper.

Kuroko raised his eyebrow as the other male whirled away from him, grabbing his chest as if he was experiencing a heart attack. "I-idiot!"

Kuroko could do nothing but smile wider. "Kagami-kun is so cute," he stated, turning back to the shelf as he comfortably put the book back.

"S-shut up!"

Omake

"Oi! Kuroko! You never drank the vanilla shake I brought for you!"

Kuroko blinked, glancing back at Kagami as he picked up his bag from behind the desk. "I forgot," he deadpanned.

Kagami resisted the urge to grab that sly little skull and squeeze the life out of it. Instead, he walked over to the table where the shake sat forgotten. Picking it up, Kagami swirled the cup around before taking a tentative sip of its sweet contents. "Here," Kagami jerked the cup in Kuroko's face. "It doesn't taste bad."

Kuroko's eyes crossed as he stared down at the cup in his face. Taking it gently from Kagami's grip, Kuroko stared at the straw that Kagami just used.

Kagami noticed his stare and raised his eyebrow at him questioningly, "What?"

"As much as I love indirect kisses from Kagami-kun, I must say that I enjoy kissing him more." Kuroko wrapped his lips around the straw slowly.

Kagami choked on air. "S-stop it!"

Somehow, Kuroko was convinced that Kagami was going to remain red in the face permanently. Smiling around the straw, Kuroko kept his eyes on Kagami as the taller male buried his face in his hands, trying his hardest to hide his embarrassment.

Kagami turned away from Kuroko and walked out of the library first, shoving his hands in his pockets as he willed his blush to go away. Kuroko followed behind him silently, burning Kagami's expressions into his memory.

He was so lost in the sea of Kagami that he barely heard the other boy speak. Blinking out of his stupor, Kuroko glanced up at him from the corner of his eyes, "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

Kuroko could tell that Kagami was trying his hardest to not turn red again. "B-baka! I said I like kissing you too. D-don't make me s-say it again."

This time it was Kuroko's turn to blush. He stopped in his tracks, vanilla sliding down his throat as he swallowed the mouthful of the sweet shake. Kagami stopped as well, his lips drawn down in a small pout. He glanced around the halls of Seirin quickly before leaning down to capture Kuroko's lips in their second kiss of the day and of their relationship.