A/N: A new series that revolves around an ex-basketball player!Kuroko who tries to do different hobbies. The idea came to me 'cause I thought Kuroko cross-dressing would be kind of funny. Halfway writing this, it became a takakuro thing (it's very light though). This was supposed to be a 100 word drabble, but wow, it turned into a 3k monstrosity. gdi. Also, not beta-ed.

Summary: In a parallel universe, Kuroko decided to quit basketball for good. But when boredom arises, the only logical thing to do is to get a new hobby. The question is; what kind of hobby?

Pairing: implied takakuro.

Kuroko's Hobbies

Hobby 01: Cross-dressing

.

.

It started out with a simple hairclip with a glued-on red ribbon Kuroko had gotten from his parents' (never used) bedroom, inside a box of accessories placed on his mother's vanity mirror. This action was out of simple curiosity when he was cleaning his old things, since he had free time from not joining any clubs now that he was in high school, wanting to put his Teiko past behind him and found his old album of middle school (there was tons of irony here).

So, he was going through his Teiko album (the one he wanted to burn so badly but stopped himself by remembering the good times rather than the nasty ones), flipping the pages casually and saw the photo.

The photo was of him and Kise wearing their sports uniform. He looked blank, like usual, sipping his vanilla milkshake, not really focusing on the camera because he was tired while Kise was holding up his hand in a v sign (not with the vulgar meaning intended, it was the pose that was popularized by peppy Japanese school girls) and smiling brightly that almost blinded Kuroko permanently when he looked.

He smiled fondly at the picture, which was taken during the Teiko Sports Festival. Kise and him were paired up in a duo race, the three-legged race where participants had to tie their legs together with their respective partners to form "three-legs" to race. It was a good memory he kept in his heart, something that was before the whole Teiko disaster happened. This thought caused Kuroko to frown, making him shake his head to forget it. Instead, he continued observing the picture, until he noticed something and blinked.

Kise was wearing a hairclip. It was a simple one with a polka dot pattern that had a light blue and yellow color scheme.

He had to admit it; while it did look comfortable (hair that wouldn't stay in front of your face and poke your eyes when its length reached under your eyebrows), was it worth it for a guy to wear a girly hairclip? Kuroko had no qualms with guys wearing clips (he wasn't the type to point and call out "gay!" either, since that was disrespectful and he wasn't homophobic either), but there was something that was pulling him in to do just that – wear a hairclip.

Being bored and since basketball no longer filled in the boredom with intense training and friendship, he decided to satiate his curiosity. It wasn't like it would cause a backlash or hurt him in any way. So, how bad could it be?

(Maybe the boredom was doing funny things to his brain. Then again, this wouldn't change anything.)

Kuroko took the clip and wore it without difficulty – exactly who will mess up with wearing a hair clip anyways? –, then stared at his reflection in the mirror.

He didn't have a narcissistic disorder – unlike someone he knew, but that was just his own speculations, not a proven fact on paper – but hot damn, he looked cute. Like really, he did look cute and he wasn't a liar.

The teal-haired male smiled. It wasn't a full-blown, happy, wide and face-splitting smile you would normally see on a teenager. That smile was more of an action that spoke of enlightened curiosity.

Satisfying as it was, he felt compelled to do this again.

.

.

Sooner or later, the small, slightly insignificant hairclip wearing hobby of his escalated into girly thick-framed glasses without prescription (red glasses were his favorite, though he hoped this wasn't the start of a glasses fetish like the guy from the next town who keeps proclaiming himself as a "meganest"), hair bands with diverse decorations, charm bracelets middle school girls liked giving to their best friends, plastic flower crowns (since real flowers would've been a waste if he only wore it once and tossed it aside for it to wilt) and long wigs of assorted but basic colors.

Kuroko started to dress up himself, each time he would wear different accessories to create a new "image" of "him". This time, he wore a black wig that reached his shoulders, small, pastel-colored flower hairclips, pink thick-framed glasses, black colored contacts and a simple, slightly feminine pink sweater with a button-up shirt.

He didn't wear a skirt to go along with it, no make-up, real female undergarments (Kuroko wasn't a pervert and this was just a hobby, not a serious disguise job, so he says to himself) or actual women clothing (since the clothes he was wearing were his own that was just kind of girly, not genuine articles of clothes of the opposite gender) in his dress-up. He still wasn't ready for those (reluctance held him down) and he was currently content with only changing his face and to an extent, a little bit of his clothing.

The ex-basketball player didn't know why, but changing his image to form a new "female persona" each time made him very happy. Kuroko tested if it was the same with making a new "male persona", but it just didn't give off the same feel to him like it was when it came to female personas. He was not sure why, but if he kept this up, he might be able to find out why forming female persona after persona was amazing.

Besides, it wasn't like anyone he knew would stop him, since the only people he was acquainted with were his grandmother, his parents and his old Teiko teammates. The first was in a hospital, the former always out on business trips and never visited over two and a half years minus Christmas, while for the latter, he didn't contact them at all, neither did they in return.

No one would stop him, so it wouldn't be as bad as others might think.

.

.

So far, he was still going on with his hobby of creating new versions of himself as a girl, but it didn't felt as satisfying as it was from before.

Kuroko eventually got to the level where he wore an actual skirt (always long and conservative) and long black stockings (for some strange reason, he just liked stockings). Though, the sweaters, hoodies and converses still remained because he had a newfound love for sweaters and hoodies and converses are much more comfortable than women shoes. Now, after getting to where he was at with his hobby, he didn't get the joy or contentment he received whenever he looked at himself in the mirror. The blue haired male just didn't feel the thrill anymore.

Was this a sign he had to take it to the next level, to do something bigger than before? Did it mean that he would have to parade around like this in the sea of strangers?

It was such a tempting course of action to take that it became tantalizing to him. At the same time, he was scared if he got found out. What would he do then, deny the obvious claims or stay silent like a weak child when others taunted him for being a pervert or some sort of sick freak?

He sighed tiredly.

If the madness was going to eat him away, he would rather go through the possible outcomes of shame in public for wearing a female persona. If worse comes to worst, his misdirection would help him escape undetected and he would bring a bag of male clothing for him to change (again, using his lack of presence to go into the male or female's toilet wouldn't be a problem).

He was going to do this.

.

.

"Yo, pretty miss, why don't you come with us?"

Kuroko should've known that he would regret this. While he thought he would go through the residents of Tokyo undetected or if he was noticed, he would be ignored and long story short, safe from strangers, he really didn't expect this at all.

Yep, male strangers picking him up as if he painted a bulls-eye on himself that practically screamed, "SPEND TIME WITH ME, I'M FREE". But he didn't.

All he did was wear his shoulder-length black wig (it was his favorite and it counted as his lucky wig, since he needed all the luck he could get, which made him wince when he remembered a certain Oha-Asa obsessed teammate), a pastel blue hair band with white polka-dots, dark blue glasses, a light blue baggy sweater (which was good for hiding the fact that he wasn't just a flat girl but an actual guy), white button-up that covered up his neck – effectively covering up his adam's apple – and a really long plaid skirt with black knee-length stockings and a pair of old sneakers. He also had a backpack decorated with a multitude of stars with him that had his male clothing inside and his cellphone in case anything happened.

As flattering as it was to be called pretty, meaning that his cross-dressing attempt was a success and he was officially recognized as a female, the situation didn't really call for it for him to be feeling good about it. The bad side was, he was getting picked up by random people, who made him feel very uncomfortable and disturbed after years of getting away unnoticed on the streets.

There were chuckles all around and it made Kuroko feel disturbed by the strange tone. He was confused why they would laugh when nothing humorous happened. Then again, Kuroko didn't have a sense of humor. "What, did the pretty miss suddenly get shy?" one of them teased and Kuroko felt himself shuddering in disgust.

The worst part was that he was trapped in a strategic position to the men; Kuroko was cornered on all sides, seeing that there were three of them and his back was facing the brick wall of the alley, also meaning that he couldn't fight back.

This is not going to end well, this thought flowed into Kuroko's mind, making him gain an internal panic frenzy, but it did not show on his face. However, his face wore a frown, which one of them saw when they were observing whether the supposed pretty female prey had a flustered expression from their teasing.

The observant one smirked like an evil predator. "What, don't like us, miss? Not your type?" He leaned in closer to Kuroko until his lips brushed the shell of the now black haired female's ear. The tip of his ears became a burning shade of red out of embarrassment at the close proximity, which the man took as an initiative to do something more while his friends exchanged more chuckles and smirks of their own.

Deciding he had enough of it, Kuroko tried to use misdirection but failed when the same man grabbed his wrist and pulled him back further into the alley.

"We're not done yet, ya know…" the right one said with a creepy grin that did not bode well with the black haired 'girl'.

The black haired 'girl', unable to throw a punch because 'she' knew it would only make it worse, tried struggled against the man's tight grasp, but it only served to amuse them as they trapped 'her' even further.

All of them shared equal looks that spoke of lewdness and once again, Kuroko felt grossed out by the display. No wonder women hated it when men stared at them for more than five seconds, because they were afraid if they were thinking of something else entirely different from what they were seeing.

"Let's have some fun." One of them whispered into his ear and the cross-dressing male didn't know who, seeing as it didn't matter at the moment due to the fact that he had more important things to worry about right now.

Suddenly, one of them shouted in pain and dropped to the ground while clutching to the side of his head with his hand. This confused Kuroko, until he realized what was happening when he saw the basketball that bounced, then rolled away from them on the ground innocently.

Someone had hit one of the strangers with a basketball. To the head.

The currently cross-dressing male didn't normally laugh, but it was funny to see a basketball being used as a weapon.

The other two, instead of helping their fallen friend, turned to the source of the flung basketball and saw a male high school student with black hair in a standard black gakuran, who looked pretty smug at what he had just done.

"Hey, you guys shouldn't go around trapping girls like that." He said with a cocky grin as he stepped into the alley. "Maybe that's why girls don't like you, since you're all such aggressive jerks."

The two men had their complete attention on the high school student. Kuroko moved away from the wall but made no move to run from the alley, as he was interested how this would develop and he wasn't in any danger, so it would be alright for now.

"Why you -!" the much more easily provoked one shouted in fury, his right hand clenched into a fist to punch the daylights out of the confident student, his friend following in suit as well.

The high school student avoided the poorly thought out attacks without much effort, like he could see all of their moves and tripped the both of them when they tried to run to him clumsily. Kuroko expected the high school student to fight back (tripping worked fine), though he was proven wrong when said student ran to the basketball to retrieve it and used his other free hand to grab Kuroko's (who was near the basketball) wrist to run away.

When the two men were ready to run after them, the male student sped up and Kuroko could easily tell that this person was an athlete, judging by the way he was running when Kuroko observed him.

.

.

The black haired male directed a sincere grin at Kuroko. "Well, they sure were an annoying bunch, weren't they?" he said, hoping to ease the tension between him and his female companion.

Kuroko tried the best he could to mask his male voice. It wasn't too hard, since he spoke really soft most of the time and with enough practice, he would sound like a genuine girl. Now he wondered why he would practice having a girly voice, but he pushed it aside to think for another time. "Yes, they were. Thank you for helping me." He coughed to pretend he was sick, so it wouldn't be weird if his voice was not something to be expected by the male in front of him.

If anything, Kuroko's response made the black haired student grin wider (the voice and the coughs didn't bother him at all). Kuroko's jaw ached when he saw the wide grin. How could someone smile that wide? "By the way, I'm Takao Kazunari! It's nice to meet you."

"Ah.." Kuroko simply said, showing hesitance to say his real name. At times like this, he wished he was good at making female names or planned this out in case this happened. While he could say 'Kuroko Tetsuna', it wouldn't work out because he knew that it would conflict with his real identity and he didn't want to randomly add another 'person' into his family register.

The high school student, Takao, being as perceptive as he was, saw the girl's reluctance to say her name and he laughed cheerily. He didn't look troubled by the girl's lack of response. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me your name. But can I ask why?"

Kuroko shuffled his feet as a sign of nervousness. He might as well say a little of the truth, since the best lie was a half-truth. "I don't normally... look like this… so I, uhm, don't want to be recognized by people… I potentially know…" he said, mentally cringing at his poorly crafted lie.

Takao continued being friendly. "That's alright! Tokyo has lots of people who like dressing up and being someone else they usually aren't, since it makes them more confident. Actually, I think it took a lot of courage for you to come out dressed like this. Good job!" he gave a cheesy thumbs-up.

"Thank you." Kuroko thanked Takao for sincere. He blushed slightly, since he wasn't used to getting compliments. It felt nice.

"Though since you won't tell me your real name," Takao carried on with the conversation before it turned into complete silence and he liked talking with this person, so why stop? "Do you mind me naming you? I want to get your phone number but it won't suffice if I put 'the super cute girl I saved from thugs'; that is, assuming I get to have your number as an exchange for saving you." He teased lightly with a wink, but not in a creepy-I-want-to-get-in-your-skirts-way.

Kuroko relaxed in the companionship of Takao, a small twitch forming at the corners of his lips that clearly showed his amusement.

"Ah, I made you smile!" Takao grinned while pointing it out.

This only made Kuroko smile just a little wider, only a little. "No, you didn't." he stated in the most blank voice he could manage, until he started bursting out giggling softly.

"So, have you decided to spare the man from agony," said Takao dramatically, like he was in one of those William Shakespeare novels. "By giving him your phone number and allowing him to name you?"

Kuroko just nodded with a smile. Seeing this, Takao gave another trademark grin and fished out his cellphone from his pocket to give to Kuroko. Receiving the cellphone, he went into the contacts page, pressed 'add contact', punched in his cellphone number and left the 'contact name' blank for Takao to apparently name him. After he finished, he gave the cellphone, which was a flip phone, back to the eager Takao.

The black haired male typed in the name, then pressed save.

"So, what did you 'name' me?" Kuroko asked curiously. He wanted to know what someone would name him right after a first meeting.

"I will text you later, so you can save my number right away." He said, before placing his hand to his mouth, with a finger to cover his lips.

"Until then, it's a secret!"

.

.

In the evening when Kuroko was back in his house and in his normal clothes, a text message appeared on his cellphone. It was from Takao.

"Hey, this is Takao Kazunari, the knight-in-shining armor that saved you earlier! Btw, I decided to name you 'Ederu', after the flower Ēderuwaisu, which means courage/power in hanakotoba. My younger sis told me, since she really loves flowers.

Neat, right?"

Thanks for reading and please review!

Feel free to suggest a hobby!

gakuran = a Japanese school uniform for males. It is modeled after the European-style naval uniforms and was first used in Japan in the late 19th century. It is also a very common school uniform.

Ēderuwaisu = Edelweiss in English.

Hanakotoba = the Japanese version of the language of flowers.

Other Notes: [The term "cross-dressing" denotes an action or a behavior without attributing or implying any specific causes for that behavior. Some people automatically connect cross-dressing behavior to transgender identity or sexual, fetishist or homosexual behavior, but the term itself does not imply any motives.] - from wikipedia. Please keep in mind that while this might not be yaoi/shonen-ai (tbh, I intended for this story to be full of crack), I tried to be as realistic as possible when it comes to cross-dressing (aka; getting hit on by guys when your dress-up in drag attempt is a success). I hope I don't offend any of you with my apparent lack of knowledge.