Melting Castle (Akakuro)

L is for Lacking Love

Kuroko pov

The next day at school Kagami asked if I was 'ok.' Apparently I had worried him after I suddenly left him at the restaurant. I told him I was fine which was a complete lie since I was now worried about meeting up with Akashi. We hadn't set up a time or anything that would mark the two of us meeting up.  

When school ended I took my time to get my things and leave school. I texted Akashi that we should find a place to meet up. He responded with message that made me start running through the hallway.

Akashi: I'm outside Seirin. I've been since Rakuzan let out.

I burst through the doors getting a punch in the rib from a nearby student. Biting the inside of my lip I run around looking for Akashi's red hair. I spotted him to the side waiting for me looking at his phone. I fought my way through the crowd of students leaving school. When I made it to his side he looked over to putting his phone away. 

"Are you ready to go and work on this challenge?" he wondered. I nod my head as the two of us began to walk off the school campus. We barely stepped foot out of Seirin high when someone called my name. We stopped walked and turned around. It was Kagami, he ran up to me and looked between me and Akashi.

"What is it Kagami-kun?" I ask him. Kagami's eyes traveled from me over to Akashi and then back over to me. 

"I- I was just wondering if we were going to walk home together again. I guess this answers the question since you seem to be hanging out with him." Kagami said though I could tell her wasn't happy about me and Akashi hanging out from the way he said 'him.' 

"Yeah I'm hanging out with Akashi-kun today." I say as casually as I could manage with the awkward situation I had found myself in.  Akashi took my hand and began to lead me farther from the school campus.

"Let's get going kuroko." he whispered. I looked over my should to see Kagami watching me and Akashi walk away. Our eyes met and I turned back around beginning to converse with Akashi as the two of us walked to my house. 

"My mom won't be home right away so we'll be alone for awhile." I say unlocking the door and letting Akashi into the house. I slip off my shoes and hand Akashi a pair of slippers that were meant for guests. I put my own slippers on and dropped my school bag once the two of us made it to my room. 

"I haven't been in here for awhile." Akashi commented looking around. The pale blue, purple wallpaper was beginning to chip at the top and and bottom. My bed was to the left of the door and my desk opposite of it. On my desk was handfuls of what looked to be very stale chips. There was a cup that held pencils, pens and a few sharpies along with a red and blue colored pencil. Next to my desk was a small trashcan the same color as my wall. The carpet that lay on the hard wood floor was worn and bits of it no longer had any white fluff. I guessed that it was from when me and Aomine used to pick at the carpet while reading manga in my room.

"Are all of these your past sketch books?" Akashi wondered pointing the the shelf that was nearly full of sketch books. I nod and walk over to one of them pulling it out and examining the cover with a soft smile.

"You gave this one to me. I know because you insisted on writing your name on the inside. See?" I flip to the first page and show Akashi the neatly written letters that spelled out his full name. Akashi took the book from my hands and went through the drawings. A unicorn, a girl with pigtails, a boy by the ocean, Midorima holding a glue stick in the air, a cat. The sketches continued on. 

"Do you know what this drawn out love story is going to be about?" Akashi asked while looking closely at a drawing of himself. I shrug and sit down on my bed thinking.

"I mean it's a love story so It'll be about love." I said dumbly. Akashi turned the page to see another sketch of himself. He was sitting with Midorima and they looked like they were having lunch or something. I turn away slightly ashamed that he now knew I used to spy of people during lunch instead of actually eating. 

"Of course it's about love, that's not what I meant Kuroko. What I meant was that I wanted to know the plot of this story. Is it a date? Are the characters married? Are they just getting together?" he asked flipping through pages of random school supplies. He stopped on another sketch of himself. 

"I haven't given it that much thought." I admit sheepishly looking away from Akashi despite the fact he wasn't even giving me a second glance. His attention was on the sketches in the book. 

"Tell me Kuroko, have you ever been in a relationship?" Akashi asked putting the sketch book back where it had previously been sitting on the shelf collecting dust. 

"No. I'm clueless that's why I need help with doing this." I say. Akashi walks over to the bed sitting down next to me and giving me a tiny playful smile.

"I won't be much help to you then. I've also never been in a relationship before." he said in flat tone. I turn to him a bit shocked but at the same time I wasn't. Akashi spent the majority of his time playing basketball or doing whatever his father told him to do. It didn't leave much time for romantic relationships let alone hanging out with friends. 

"Oh, well then the story will have to be about people just getting together. That way we'll have a better chance of figuring out how to draw this odd story." I say to the red head. He nodded and looked back at me.

"I have another problem. Neither of us have romantic interests. We lack love and we're supposedly drawing a love story." Akashi noted pointing out the information I had wanted to avoid. Instead of responding I just gave a quick nod to confirm that I had heard him. 

"Well we're going to have to find someone to 'like' in order to do this properly." he said standing up and leaving my room. I quickly followed him watching as he entered the kitchen getting a glass of water and heading to the table. I joined him and we sat in silence. 

I could attempt to 'like' Kagami but that would just feel awkward, I saw him like a best friend. It might work a bit better with Momoi if it weren't for the fact that she had started dating Aomine-kun. Was I really going to stoop to the low bar of dating apps? Apparently that was the case since my dumbass mouth suggested the idea.

"We could try using a dating app." I say and to my absolute horror Akashi looked as though he was actually going to say yes. 

"Due to the fact neither of us have any sort of romantic interests at the moment....I don't think your suggestion is a bad idea. Well try using a dating app." he said in his proper business voice which made me want to burst out laughing. Instead I harshly bit the inside of my lip turning my head down to look at the wood table.

"Anyways, it's getting late I'll be off now. We got the first step to this challenge done. Well check back in next Friday. Goodbye Kuroko." Akashi said standing up and bringing the cup to the sink rinsing it before switching his slippers to shoes and giving me a small wave. The sudden urge to hug him goodbye washed over me but I settled for waving goodbye. 

After Akashi left I headed back to my room taking my phone out and downloading the most stupid looking dating app. My mom would kill me if she found out about this. Creating a profile was easy, the not so easy part was trying to figure out weather or not I wanted to try dating a boy or a girl. I settled with girls just because it had defaulted the selection to that. 

Sighing I got up and headed to get a small snack to start on my homework despite how late it was. I wanted to have a distraction from the dating app that was on my phone. 

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Word Count: 1471