Ship: Himuro Tatsuya/Murasakibara Atsushi Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke Major Tags: None Other Tags: None Square: mirror crack Word Count: 444
***
Bad luck follows Tatsuya around like a particularly stubborn companion that he never once asked for. It's there in every aspect of his life, weighing down on his shoulders whenever he tries to jump, weaving itself into the words of every single conversation he has, tripping him up when he feels optimistic enough to walk with his gaze fixed ahead of him, instead of at his own feet.
It wraps around his entire life like a vine, slowly but surely choking it until there's nothing left. Tatsuya deals with it, because it's the only thing he can do. He learns how to hide it, how to deal with it, how to fake happy, fake normal, fake, fake, fake, until he no longer trusts his reflection because he isn't sure how much of it is a mask and how much of it is actually him.
He learns not to care about that; this is just his nature, he tells himself, tells everyone else who makes mention of how perfectly controlled his reactions are to everything, as if he's predicted that they'll happen long before they actually do. Tatsuya doesn't explain it's because he's always prepared for the worst possible outcome for himself; it's about patterns, about knowing the situation and predicting the most likely path that something will take, the same as it is when he's on the court. Tatsuya knows everything he can about life in the same way he knows basketball; he's read the books back to front until he's mastered the theory of it. It's not quite as smooth in practice, and it's not enough to make up for the fact that some others have the luck, the skill, the talent that he doesn't, but it's still enough to beat the rest.
When he meets Murasakibara Atsushi, he thinks to himself that, well, this is just his bad luck too. Of course he will be paired with someone who serves as a constant reminder of everything he wishes he had, and doesn't. Of course he'll find himself falling into the role of motivating that person, when he's sure that it should be the other way around. Tatsuya isn't a caretaker, and he isn't nurturing; he loathes those who have what he doesn't and he loathes Atsushi just the same, resenting him for every day of practice that he's too lazy to apply himself, resenting him for every snack that he eats, every block that he makes without even having to try.
Somewhere along the line, that resentment turns into something else, turns into the complete opposite, but Tatsuya isn't sure if that's real, or if that's just the crack in the mirror.
FILL: TEAM KAGEYAMA TOBIO/OIKAWA TOORU, A2, G
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: None
Square: mirror crack
Word Count: 444
***
Bad luck follows Tatsuya around like a particularly stubborn companion that he never once asked for. It's there in every aspect of his life, weighing down on his shoulders whenever he tries to jump, weaving itself into the words of every single conversation he has, tripping him up when he feels optimistic enough to walk with his gaze fixed ahead of him, instead of at his own feet.
It wraps around his entire life like a vine, slowly but surely choking it until there's nothing left. Tatsuya deals with it, because it's the only thing he can do. He learns how to hide it, how to deal with it, how to fake happy, fake normal, fake, fake, fake, until he no longer trusts his reflection because he isn't sure how much of it is a mask and how much of it is actually him.
He learns not to care about that; this is just his nature, he tells himself, tells everyone else who makes mention of how perfectly controlled his reactions are to everything, as if he's predicted that they'll happen long before they actually do. Tatsuya doesn't explain it's because he's always prepared for the worst possible outcome for himself; it's about patterns, about knowing the situation and predicting the most likely path that something will take, the same as it is when he's on the court. Tatsuya knows everything he can about life in the same way he knows basketball; he's read the books back to front until he's mastered the theory of it. It's not quite as smooth in practice, and it's not enough to make up for the fact that some others have the luck, the skill, the talent that he doesn't, but it's still enough to beat the rest.
When he meets Murasakibara Atsushi, he thinks to himself that, well, this is just his bad luck too. Of course he will be paired with someone who serves as a constant reminder of everything he wishes he had, and doesn't. Of course he'll find himself falling into the role of motivating that person, when he's sure that it should be the other way around. Tatsuya isn't a caretaker, and he isn't nurturing; he loathes those who have what he doesn't and he loathes Atsushi just the same, resenting him for every day of practice that he's too lazy to apply himself, resenting him for every snack that he eats, every block that he makes without even having to try.
Somewhere along the line, that resentment turns into something else, turns into the complete opposite, but Tatsuya isn't sure if that's real, or if that's just the crack in the mirror.