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“ARGH, THIS DOESN’T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE WHY DO THEY HAVE TO LOOK SO SIMILAR?” Kagami let out a strangled shout and thumped his head onto the table he and Kuroko were working at.
In theory, helping Kagami study his kanji so he could at least try to study the rest of his subjects was a good idea, but obviously, this didn’t take into account at the sheer mass of stupidity that was Kagami’s brain. Kagami knew this; knew that academics weren’t his strong suit, clearly, but what he didn’t understand was why Kuroko felt the need to continue to attempt to help him learn the damn kanji.
“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko huffed, “it’s not that hard when you practice, it’s just memorization and application, you’ll get them eventually, but the team and I would really prefer if its sooner rather than later for the good of all of us.”
Kagami lifted his head to give a half-hearted glare to the blue-haired basketball player. He didn’t understand why Kuroko continued to insist on tutoring him one-on-one to help with his kanji. It’s not like the guy didn’t understand how difficult it was for Kagami and how much effort it took to get Kagami to focus enough on the work to learn even one kanji, but he still showed up, week after week, to help the ace.
Kuroko always seemed to have good reasons for helping,
“If you can’t pass these classes, who will be our team’s ace?” “really, it helps me study too” “what if you don’t get good enough grades to go to the next tournament?” But every time he offered up one of these as an explanation, Kagami noticed that the boy couldn’t quite meet his eyes, an oddity for Kuroko, who always seemed to pierce him with that ice-eyed stare of his. Surely it must be frustrating trying to teach him the same things over and over again. Kagami constantly had difficulty remembering the stroke order or the difference between two similar characters, but still Kuroko made time after practice and sometimes on weekends to head to Kagami’s apartment and help the red-haired idiot out with his homework and studying.
Rolling around his pencil, head still on the table, Kagami looked up at Kuroko who seemed to be in the middle of giving him a lecture about something or another. Probably something about kanji again. Damn, he should probably be paying attention.
“Kagami-kun, if you truly can’t focus, then maybe we should take a break.” Kuroko sighed, eyeing his teammate with exasperation. Kagami just grunted in agreement. It was clear from the way things were progressing they wouldn’t get much further tonight, which although fine with Kagami, although it did send a little stab through his heart whenever he saw the glimmer of disappointment in Kuroko’s too blue eyes.
“Hey, Kuroko,” Kagami sat up and rested his cheek in his palm, “I know I’ve asked before, but why are you trying so hard to help me out?”
“And as I’ve said previously Kagami-kun I-“ He was cut off by two large hands grabbing the sides of his face.
“That’s another thing,” Kagami speculated, looking into Kuroko’s now slightly widened eyes, “whenever you answer that question you don’t look me in the eye which is kinda strange for you, so what’s up?”
“Well,” Kuroko’s eyes traveled around the room, not far, as his head was stuck in Kagami’s grip. “Maybe I just wanted….” The rest of the his sentence trailed off into a quiet murmur.
“Hah? Kuroko, you’re gonna need to speak up if you want anyone to understand what you’re saying” Kagami stated bluntly, still not relinquishing his hold on his friends face.
“Maybe,” Kuroko mumbled, “I wanted to spend more time with you.” His cheeks dusted a pale pink at his own words.
A booming laugh suddenly resonated through the room.
“That’s all?” Kagami chuckled, drawing his hands away, “Honestly I was worried it was gonna be something way worse by the way you kept avoiding it! If that’s the case we should do something else besides study ya’know? Friends hang out all the time!”
Kuroko backed up in his chair a little, rubbing the spots on his cheeks where warm hands had been previously, face still slightly colored. He muttered something to himself that sounded slightly like the word “dense…”
“Kuroko could you repeat that, you really need to work on speaking up.”
“I was saying, Kagami-kun, that even though we might not need to study it sure would be helpful to you.” Kuroko sighed out, but then smiled, “But perhaps if you’re free this weekend…?”
Kagami grinned broadly at his shadow. “Hell yeah!”
Kuroko smiled instinctively at the bright grin on Kagami’s face. He really could never resist his light’s grin.
“Honestly though, we should really finish our homework for tonight.” The smaller one said, a smile still ghosting on his face.
“Yeah....” Kagami said after a pause, smile falling slightly, “I guess you’re right.”
They worked for a couple hours more before calling it a night, both having finished their homework, with a lot of help from Kuroko on Kagami’s part.
“See you tomorrow then?” Kuroko said hesitantly standing in the doorway.
“Yeah!” Kagami laughed, “I was a little worried that you might cancel these study sessions because you said you just wanted to hang out, but I’m glad.” Kagami’s grin took over his entire face, “I really like spending time with you too.”
Kuroko felt a blush come onto his face for the second time that night. He waved goodbye to his loud friend, and realized when he got home he had not stopped smiling.