Whats hidden behind the shadows

chapter 5

after a nice trip to maji burger with the GOM kuroko finally got home. He walked in the room where the owners of the group home usually are.

"Excuse me, hi, I'm here to tell you that I'll be gone for next week, from monday to friday." He said as he gave them an envelope with the information about the training camp, he got approval and walked out happily.

He walked up the stairs in a good mood and opened his door, he immediately scrunched up his nose, then started coughing. The entire room was filled with smoke and it smelled like weed and alcohol.

"Jesus, open a window for once." Kuroko said in irritation as he opened a window. "You're gonna get caught one of these days."

"Shut the fuck up you shrimp, like I give a damn. You better watch your mouth before i beat the shit out of you, you hear me?!" Haru yelled as he lit another joint.

Kuroko looked at the room in disgust, there's dirty dishes and clothes everywhere, women's underwear still spread on the floor.

"Clean up your mess for once." Kuroko said as he grabbed the dishes, then Haru walked up to him, angrily. He grabbed him by his throat and pinned him against the wall.

"I told you to watch your goddamn mouth! I can make a mess whenever i fucking want! You hear me?!" He yelled, spit coming out of his mouth while he did.

Kuroko was struggling to breathe, he tried anything and everything to get out of his roommate's grip but he was hopeless.

"P..ple-ase" he managed to choke out, Haru pulled him closer, creating a gap between Kuroko and the wall, then he threw him against it, as kuroko's back hit the wall hard he crashed onto the ground. Haru spit on him and raised his foot to kick him, but suddenly someone came rushing in.

Saito punched Haru as hard as he possibly could, causing him to fall to the ground and groan in pain.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing huh? Beating up a 14 year old child!! I swear if you dont change ur behaviour quickly I will snitch to the owners!" Saito yelled and then helped kuroko back up who was still coughing and trying to catch his breath.

"Are you okay buddy?" Saito asked gently as he took Kuroko to his own room, making sure to give Haru a nasty glare before walking out of the room.

He sat on his bed and placed the smaller guy's head gently on his lap and played with his hair to try and calm him down, Kuroko was clearly stressed, the aggression of his roommate unlocked the traumatic memories from his mother and he was handling it all very badly.

"It's okay tet-chan, she will not hurt you ever again, and i'll make sure Haru gets taught a lesson too, okay? You're safe as long as your big brother is here." He said in a soft but gentle voice.

"Don't.. h..rt -im.." kuroko mumbled between his shaky breaths and tears.

"Would you mind repeating yourself?"

"Dont hurt Haru, as much as I despite his behaviour, he still isn't completely at fault, he was raised like this. I feel bad for him.." kuroko said more clearly this time.

Saito sighed and planted a tiny kiss on kuroko's forehead.

"I get what you mean but that is not an excuse for him to hurt you. You're too kind for your own good, please do not worry about him, he will be fine, worry about yourself. I will not hurt him if not necessary." Saito explained

Kuroko sighed softly as he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep. Saito decided to move his head away from his lap and they both fell asleep in his bed, Kuroko felt safer than ever before.

It felt comfortable, just like when Kuroko first moved here, Saito was there for him like a big brother. They had a very strong bond, and kuroko is so thankful for having him in his life.

The next morning

Kuroko walked in the room, to his surprise, it was all clean. The room did not smell like weed or alcohol, it smelled so good, he saw both the beds made up, and then he saw Haru sitting on his bed, mot noticing Kuroko yet.

"Woah did you clean up here?" Kuroko asked, startling Haru so much he sat up quickly and hit his head on the bed above him.

"Goddamn shrimp" he mumbled but then got up and walked to kuroko, Kuroko tensed up a bit.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night, I was very stressed and the alcohol and weed took the best of me, I'm deeply sorry for how I've been acting, I'll try to be better." Haru said to kuroko's surprise.

Kuroko smiled. "It's okay Haru, do you want to talk about it? I mean why you're stressed and all?" He asked.

And so they made up, Haru ended up telling Kuroko about the things he was struggling with, Kuroko listened carefully and gave good advice, this might be the start of a better relationship between the two.

After a long morning Kuroko walked to school quite different then from yesterday, he got a lot of sleep last night, because Saito was there to comfort him whenever he had a nightmare, they fell asleep while Saito wrapped his big muscular arms around the tinier boy, which felt safe for Kuroko.

He had a soft smile on his face, maybe everything might just work out in the end...

AN/ everything that happened between Saito and Kuroko is all platonic! no ship! saito is like 19 and Kuroko is 14 in this story 🥲