much fic very wow

[dandywonderous]

It’s a cool night, one of those spring nights that’s still resisting the heat of the approaching summer. Aomine can see each puff of air as he pants, watching the ball he’s just released from his formless shot glide through the air. It’s got a beautiful arc and it’s perfectly on target, but-

Kagami gets a finger on it.

The ball’s arc is wobbly now, and it hits the rim. Both of them watch, with bated breath, as it rolls around the rim, again and again, before, finally, tipping into the net and falling through.

Kagami hisses in disappointment at the same time Aomine whoops, and the alarm on his phone goes off. With that buzzer-beater, Aomine won the game by two points.

“I win again, Kagami,” crows Aomine [from the ground], laughing at the sour look on his opponent’s face. “That’s six in a row!”

“Only by two points!” Kagami says with a huff, going to retrieve the ball. “I’ll win next time!”

“You say that every time.” Aomine cocks his head to the side, a big grin on his face. “You’re all talk.”

“But you know you can’t let your guard down around me.” Kagami can’t help but grin despite himself as he returns, the ball held under his shoulder[, and extends a hand to help Aomine up].

“How do you know? Maybe I’m only playing you at half my strength.”

Both of them know that isn’t true in the slightest, and that’s what makes playing each other so exhilarating. Never has Aomine had someone who was so evenly matched against him.

[He takes Kagami’s hand and allows himself to be pulled to his feet.] He throws an arm around Kagami’s shoulders, the other boy’s shirt sticking to his arm from the sweat. Most people thinks sweat is gross, he supposes, but he associates it with his best moments with Kagami, whether it’s after a one-on-one match like now, or after some really, really good sex.

“Loser makes dinner, right?” he asks, practically purring in Kagami’s ear, and ignores the good-natured eye roll he gets in response.

“You’d want me to make dinner even if I won.”

Aomine doesn’t answer that, instead ducks in close enough to press a kiss to Kagami’s cheek, grinning at the heat that rises to Kagami’s face. It’s not like there’s anyone here to watch them, alone in the old, rundown court near Kagami’s apartment, with the moon already up in the sky.

Then he slides off Kagami just as languidly, stealing the ball from him as he goes. Kagami makes a noise of surprise at suddenly finding the ball in Aomine’s hands instead of his, and Aomine laughs as he walks off to grab his bag.

The walk back to Kagami’s apartment begins pleasantly, with gentle ribbing about the game, arguments about professional teams, and lots of laughter over shared jokes. Sometimes, Aomine is still amazed that they’ve come all this way from where they started over a year ago, not that he’ll ever, ever admit to enjoying their new relationship to Kagami. He can’t even bring himself to use the word “boyfriend” out loud, not yet.

They stop at a crosswalk, Kagami pressing the button to cross. The two of them chat easily while waiting for the light to change. When it does, they saunter out into the street like normal. Everything is normal.

And then, very quickly, everything is not.

Aomine is a half step ahead when he sees a bright light. He turns his head to look at it, but before he can see, he hears Kagami yelling.

“AOMINE!”

The next thing Aomine knows, he’s laying on the ground. As he fell he heard a thud, and the screech of car breaks. Head spinning, he rolls over. His knees are scraped where he hit the pavement, and there’s a rip in his shirtsleeve as well. But that doesn’t concern him yet. There’s a car come to a stop just inches past his feet, but where is…

“KAGAMI!”

He spots Kagami’s hair up near the front wheel of the car. Pushing himself onto his hands and knees, he scrambles forward, reaching out for Kagami. His hand lands on Kagami’s shoulder just as he rounds the front of his car, and his eyes widen.

He’s sure that Kagami’s spine shouldn’t be twisted like that.

“Kagami?” He gives Kagami’s shoulder the smallest of shakes, his voice quiet, trembling. “…Taiga?”

Kagami doesn’t answer. He’s still, deathly still, and for a moment, Aomine’s heart stops.

But Kagami is breathing, the air coming from his chest in soft wheezes. He’s still alive. Shaking, Aomine lowers his forehead to rest it against Kagami’s shoulder, feeling the soft rise with every breath and the puff of air against his face.

He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive.

He hears a car door open, and his head jerks up, eyes feral, more like an animal than a human. A man, in his early twenties, gets out, face frozen in a state of shock, and steps around to look at what he’s done. He doesn’t say anything, so Aomine breaks the silence.

“What the fuck were you doing? Didn’t you see the light?”

“I… I’m…” The man is sweating. He sways a little on his feet. Aomine wonders if he’s drunk. “I-is he dead?”

Aomine’s heart lurches, but Kagami is still breathing under his hand. “No.”

“Shit.” Nervously, the man runs a hand through his hair. “Is he… hurt?”

“You hit him with your fucking car!” Aomine snaps, voice cold and full of fury. The man flinches and takes an unsteady step back, losing his balance and coming to lean against his car.

“Shit. Shit.”

He bends double and starts vomiting onto the road. Aomine watches this indifferently. The driver deserves worse than an upset stomach, as far as he’s concerned.

He straightens up after he’s done, wiping his mouth off on his sleeve. He looks at the body on the ground, pales again, and turns on his heel.

Aomine leaps to his feet.

“Don’t you dare-“

He’s way faster than the driver, and is at his side before he’s taken even a few steps. Aomine grabs the man’s arm and forcefully spins him around. “Wai-“ the driver begs, but before he can finish his thought, Aomine’s fist collides with his jaw, hard enough to hear a crack.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” he roars, looming over the driver, who is now in the road, curled in a fetal position. “You move again, I’ll kill you, I swear-“

“That’s enough, son.”

He whirls on the person who just put a hand on his arm to stop him; it’s a middle-aged man with graying hair, looking concerned but firm. Aomine forces himself not to punch anyone else, looking past the man to see a middle-aged woman, who’s on her cellphone, hopefully talking to emergency services. There’s a resounding click from her heels as she walks around the car that hit Kagami, and Aomine can hear her describing his injuries.

“It looks like his spine is broken.”

Aomine flinches and looks back at the man who stopped him.

“I already took down his license plate, so he can’t run.” The older man crouches down, looking over the driver’s jaw. The driver whimpers, but Aomine just wants to spit on him. “An ambulance is on its way. Go to your friend.”

Aomine does spit on the driver, then jogs back around the car and nearly collapses at Kagami’s side again. Kagami is still wheezing breaths, and now his eyes are open, glassy with pain.

Aomine leans forward, gently touching his face. “Kagami? Can you hear me?”

Kagami wheezes out something unintelligible, his eyes rolling to look at Aomine’s hand. Aomine nods encouragingly.

“I’m here, Kagami. I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay.” His voice is barely above a whisper, and he’s not sure who he’s trying to reassure.

“Dai…ki…” Kagami mumbles, panting between each syllable, and his hand twitches, like he’s trying to reach for Aomine’s hand. Aomine shakes his head.

“Don’t move! Don’t move, you… you idiot, you’re hurt, stupid Bakagami!”

The insults roll off his tongue, his only defense against the maddening scene in front of him. Somehow, somehow, it makes Kagami smile, just a little, the corners of his mouth turned up.

“’m fine… Ahomine…”

His eyelids fall again, and he slumps his head further against Aomine’s hand. Aomine can hear sirens coming closer, can hear voices above him, but he doesn’t care about any of them. Instead, he runs his fingers through Kagami’s hair, and presses his lips lightly against Kagami’s temple.

He doesn’t move until the paramedics pull him away.

…

They let Aomine ride in the ambulance, only because he’s hurt, too. All his scrapes and bruises are mostly minor, barring a broken finger. He hadn’t noticed it, and isn’t sure when it had broken, during his fall or when he punched the asshole.

It doesn’t matter. A broken finger is nothing compared to Kagami’s injuries. The paramedics had confirmed he had a spinal injury, and had very cautiously maneuvered him onto a backboard, strapping him in place to keep it from getting worse. He’s unconscious, laying strapped down tight so he doesn’t jostle with the bumps of the ambulance, and Aomine wishes he could hold his hand.

“Are you alright?” asked one of the paramedics, and Aomine almost laughed. How could he possibly be alright, while Kagami is hurt like this?

“Worry about him,” he growls, and that’s the last time a paramedic tries to bother him before they arrive.

Once Kagami is off the ambulance, they begin to wheel him in for emergency surgery. Aomine hops off the back and makes to follow them, but he’s stopped by a nurse before he can get too far.

“Let go of me,” he huffs, voice low, craning his neck to keep Kagami in sight. The automatic doors slide open to admit the gurney carrying him, and he steps after it.

“Sir, I can’t let you go back there,” the nurse protests, not giving up her grip on Aomine’s arm. She’s surprisingly strong for her short stature. “You need to go have your injuries seen to.”

“I’m not leaving him!”

He wrenches his arm out of the nurse’s grasp, breaking into a run to get through the door. He can still see Kagami down a hall, and he turns to head that way, but two more nurses and an orderly catch him before he can, all three of them working to hold him back and drag him down the opposite hallway. Aomine struggles and twists in their hold, trying to get away from them, cursing at every god forsaken one of them, until long after Kagami has been wheeled out of sight.

…

He calls Kuroko after they splint his finger.

“Hello? Aomine-kun?” Kuroko sounds confused by the call, and Aomine realizes for the first time that it’s rather late.

“Hey,” he says, and then stops, falling silent. He has no idea what to say, or how to continue. He sits still in his chair in the waiting room, waiting for Kuroko to prompt him.

He obliges, several seconds later. “…What’s wrong?”

“Kagami’s hurt. He’s in the hospital.”

He spits the words out tonelessly, staring at the wall in front of him. There’s a crack in the paint near the ceiling. He traces the crack with his eyes while waiting for Kuroko to respond.

“What? Which hospital?”

Aomine tells him. Kuroko says, “I’m coming,” and then he hangs up the phone. That’s that done, then.

Kuroko doesn’t come alone; Aomine supposes he should have expected that. Instead, he has Seirin’s coach and captain in tow – or rather, they lead, and he follows along behind.

“What happened?” Aida asks when their little group comes to a stop in front of him. She’s in the front, arms crossed and expression stern, almost like she thinks Aomine is responsible for this. He supposes he can’t really blame her, but he also doesn’t have the energy for this.

“He got hit by a car.”

Her expression falters at his blunt explanation, and she glances at Hyuga, unsure of how to respond. He doesn’t look much better, but pulls himself together more quickly.

“How did he get hit? How badly is he injured?”

“I dunno,” he says, and ignores how Aida bristles. “Some asshole ran a red light. Maybe he was drunk. I didn’t ask.”

He decides to leave out the part about breaking the guy’s jaw.

“And? How bad is it?” Aida prompts again, now seemingly over her shock. Aomine can tell it’s a front – she’s playing the role of team coach, staying strong so she can get all the facts and relay them to her team. She can be a high school girl upset about her friend once her job is done.

“Don’t know that either,” he answers, and his eyes become unfocused, so he doesn’t quite have to look at either of the people standing in front of him. “But the paramedics said it looked like a spinal injury.”

It’s easier to say when he says it flat out like this. It doesn’t even feel real; it feels like he’s just reciting lines.

For the second time, Aida loses her carefully composed expression. Beside her, Hyuga tenses, though he also has a role to play here, and he’s doing his best to stick to it. “That sounds… very serious.”

“I don’t know how serious yet. The nurses won’t tell me,” he says, and shrugs, and Aida bristles, but he honestly doesn’t care. Let them think whatever they want about him. She opens her mouth, like she’s going to say something, probably disapproving, but then a voice interrupts her.

“What happened to your finger?”

All three of them jump to varying degrees in surprise – even after all this time, Kuroko can still startle them all. For the first time since he came in, Aomine focuses on his old friend’s face.

Someone who doesn’t know Kuroko well might think the expression on his face is only mild sadness, but Aomine does know Kuroko well. Kuroko is the only one here who is as close to Kagami as Aomine himself is. He’s the only one who can really understand what Aomine is feeling.

But Aomine can’t handle that. Not yet. So he focuses on the question instead. His finger? What happened to it?

When he tries to think of what happened, his brain fills with static. White noise. All he remembers is a shout, and then he was on the ground.

“I fell. Dodging out of the way of the car.”

“I see,” Kuroko says, and if he recognizes Aomine’s hesitation, he doesn’t mention it. “I’m glad you’re okay, otherwise.”

“Thanks,” Aomine says, and his voice is a little too bitter edged. Hyuga and Aida look at each other, seeming to come to a silent agreement.

“It sounds like we won’t be able to see him tonight. I’ll check tomorrow to see if he’s allowed visitors yet.” Aida turns her attention to Kuroko. “Are you coming with us?”

“No. I want to stay a little while longer.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Kuroko-kun. And, Aomine-san… take care.”

Hyuga echoes Aida’s goodbyes, and the two of them left. Aomine watches their retreating backs impassively, not acknowledging Kuroko as he sits down in a chair on his other side.

“Aomine-kun… are you alright?”

Kuroko is one of the few people who know how… close he and Kagami are. But still, Aomine isn’t ready to answer that question.

Instead, he rolls his head up to look at the ceiling and says, “Yeah. My finger will heal in time for the season.”

“That’s not what I meant,” says Kuroko, but Aomine just shrugs and closes his eyes. He can feel Kuroko staring at him for almost a minute after that, but eventually he pulls out his phone to answer a text, leaving Aomine alone, for now.

Almost half an hour passes with the two sitting in silence. Finally, a nurse walks out, asking if anyone is there for Kagami Taiga. Aomine and Kuroko both jump to their feet and hurry to her.

“Kagami Taiga?” she repeats, and they both nod, impatiently.

“How is he?” asks Aomine, trying to look down at the chart she’s holding. She instinctively tilts it more toward her chest to shield from his prying eyes.

“Are you related to him?”

“I’m his brother,” he says, without missing a beat, and she raises an eyebrow skeptically.

“Can you show me some identification to that effect?” she asks, and Aomine scowls.

“No, but I rode in the ambulance with him to get here. Can’t you just tell me what’s wrong with him?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t release information like that to people who aren’t family.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Aomine’s expression grows dark, almost dangerous, though the nurse remains professional in the face of it. “Can’t you tell us anything?”

She considers, then says, “He’s not in any life-threatening danger. I’ll tell you that much.”

Aomine frowns, expression still dark. So had his condition been life-threatening at some point? What are the extent of his injuries? He’s about to start bombarding the nurse with questions, but then Kuroko speaks up.

“Thank you for what you can tell us, anyway,” he says, startling the nurse. She apparently hadn’t realized he’d been standing there the whole time. Aomine might have laughed, if this had been another time.

“A-ah… well, yes. You’re welcome.”

“Do you know when he’ll be able to have visitors?”

“Late tomorrow at the soonest, I think,” she says, and Kuroko nods his thanks. Aomine says nothing, just watches the nurse as she turns and goes back beyond the door marked “Personnel Only.”

“Well. I think I’m going to go home, then. My parents have been wanting to know when I’m getting back.” Kuroko looks up at Aomine. The clock on the wall behind him says it’s almost midnight. “Are you staying tonight?”

“No. I’ll leave in a little bit.”

It’s a lie, and they both know that. But Kuroko just nods.

“Kagami-kun will be okay, I think,” he says once they’ve walked back to where they were sitting before. Kuroko grabs his jacket off the chair as he says it, then looks at Aomine.

“How do you know?” Aomine asks. His voice is drained of emotion.

“I just do. He’s strong. And he has help.”

He’s staring too deeply at Aomine. Aomine looks away.

“You better go. It’s late.”

“…Alright. Goodnight, Aomine-kun.”

Once he’s gone, Aomine sits back down in his chair and looks up at the ceiling again. The late night, empty feel of a hospital waiting room presses in on him as he closes his eyes, an unsteadying feeling.

He feels like he won’t get much sleep tonight.
…

When he wakes up, he doesn’t open his eyes immediately.

Maybe, just maybe, the whole thing was a dream. When he opens his eyes, he’ll be in Kagami’s room, where he was supposed to be this morning, with Kagami laying under his arm. Kagami will wake up and roll over and Aomine will say something snarky about his morning breath and then they’ll go take a shower together. Kagami will make breakfast and then they’ll go play some more one on one and have a great day.

But the crick in his neck and the soreness in his back are already bringing him back to reality, and when he opens his eyes he’s right where he was when he fell asleep: sitting in a hard, uncomfortable chair in a hospital waiting room.

It’s still early morning, the hospital waking up around him. There are more people in the room than there were before, some of whom he recognizes from when he first arrived. He happens to lock eyes with a woman who spent the whole night here, like he did, and she gives him a nod of silent understanding before going back to talking in low voices with two other women.

He pulls out his phone to see exactly what time it is and sees that he has three missed calls and five unread texts from Momoi.

Dai-chan, Tetsu-kun just told me what happened. Why didn’t you call me!?

Dai-chan, stop ignoring my calls!

I’m going to bed. Please let me know if you’re alright. Goodnight, Dai-chan.

Dai-chan! Did you stay there all night? Call me back!

I’m coming by later. Let me know if there’s anything you need me to bring you.

Aomine sends back a simple reply (phone charger), then debates whether to turn his phone off silent. He honestly doesn’t want to deal with any calls, but he supposes he can’t keep Momoi in the dark forever.

He compromises by putting his phone on vibrate.

It’s not quite seven in the morning, which means he only got around four hours of sleep. Somehow he feels even more exhausted than he did before he slept, but he doesn’t feel like going back to sleep, either. Instead, he gets up and stretches, then wanders down to the hospital cafeteria.

His intention was to buy something to eat, but in the end, none of the food looks appealing, and only turns his stomach. He gets some coffee and downs it on the way back to the waiting room, not caring when it scalds the top of his mouth.

He’s only there for half an hour longer when a man and a woman wearing suits come out of the Personnel Only door, accompanied by the nurse he spoke with the night before about Kagami. She looks around the room and then spots him, pointing him out to the man and woman, and then disappears back through the door while they approach him.

“Hello. The nurse told us you were with Kagami Taiga when he was brought to the hospital. Is that true?” It’s the woman asking, keeping a very serious and professional tone.

Aomine doesn’t bother rising out of his seat. Instead, he raises an eyebrow. “Who’s asking?”

Both of them reach into their pockets and produce detective badges. “I’m Detective Shirogane,” says the woman, before gesturing at her companion, “and this is Detective Dojima. We’re investigating Kagami’s accident.”

Aomine sits up straighter in his seat, leaning forward a bit. “You mean how he got hit by a car.”

“Yes.”

“Some accident.” Aomine huffs, then leans back again. “The police arrested the guy who did it last night, right? So what do you need me for?”

“It is true that we arrested the suspect at the scene. Still, we need to get all the evidence we can,” says Detective Dojima this time. “As it is, Kagami-san can’t remember much about it right now. This is fairly typical when someone’s gone through a traumatic-“

“Wait.” Aomine sits up straight again. “You talked to him?”

“Yes, but only briefly. He’s still in intensive care.”

“What the hell,” Aomine drones, clenching his fists unconsciously. “He’s been awake, and I’m not allowed to see him?”

“That’s something you’ll have to discuss with the hospital staff,” says Detective Shirogane, clearly trying to pull the conversation back on track. “For now, we just want to know what happened.”

Aomine doesn’t want to talk about what happened, he just wants to go see Kagami. But if it will help get that scumbag who hit him in jail, he might as well answer.

“We were crossing the street. Some asshole ran the light, and hit Kagami. I broke my finger diving out of the way of the car. That’s all there is to say.”

“The suspect said that you hit him,” says Detective Shirogane, and Aomine stares her straight in the eyes.

“He just hit Kagami with his car, and then he tried to get out and run. What would you do?”

“Please calm down,” says Detective Dojima, though Aomine doesn’t think he sounded anything other than calm. “You’re not in any trouble here. We just want the facts.”

“Well, those are the facts.”

The detectives look at each other, and apparently decide they’re not going to get much more out of him. They have him sign some things and give them his phone number and home address, and then they’re gone.

…

Momoi arrives about an hour later, carrying a bag with her that has much more than his phone charger inside.

“I brought some clothes for you to change into, your toothbrush and toothpaste, and some deodorant,” she lists off, rummaging in the bag as she does. “I also brought some snacks.”

“Thanks,” he says, tonelessly, and takes the bag from her while her hand is still digging around in it. She pulls back, looking at him with concern.

“Dai-chan, you should really eat something! When was the last time you had any food?”

“I went to the cafeteria this morning.” It’s not a lie, technically.

That seems to relax Momoi a bit, which is the intended effect. “Good. You won’t help Kagami-san by starving yourself.”

She settles in a chair, holding out her hand. “Here, give me your phone and charger. I’ll watch them while you go get cleaned up. It will make you feel better.”

He digs the charger out of the bag, holding out the items to her. As she takes them, she adds one more thing.

“By the way, Dai-chan, I spoke to your parents while I was getting this stuff. They want you home by seven for dinner.”

Aomine stares at her for a second, then turns away without promising anything. Why should he go back just because his parents say to? Do they even care about the situation?

As though she knows what’s running through his head, Momoi calls after him. “I really think you ought to go home, Dai-chan! At the very least, sleep in your own bed.”

“I don’t need it,” he says over his shoulder, and then ducks into the bathroom before he can hear her reply.

He looks at himself in the mirror and sees for the first time how he looks. His shirt looks stiff after drying in his sweat, and his hair is getting greasy. Bruises have bloomed along the arm he landed on when he got out of the way of the car, and dark circles are already forming under his eyes. Even Aomine has to admit he looks like shit.

He strips off his shirt and wets paper towels in the sink. He uses them as a makeshift bath, rubbing dried sweat and dirt off his chest and arms. He peels off his shorts and does the same with his legs. He runs lukewarm water in the sink and dunks his head under it, giving his hair a rinse. It’s better than nothing.

Once he’s somewhat bathed, he changes into the fresh clothes Momoi brought him, and brushes his teeth. He feels slightly less disgusting now, he supposes, but contrary to Momoi’s assertions, he doesn’t feel better.

He bags all his things up and walks out of the bathroom again, just in time to see a young nurse, different from the one from the night before, talking to Momoi.

“Ah, there he is,” she says, as he picks up the pace to get to their side. “Dai-chan, this nurse wants to talk to you!”

“Yeah, I’m here.” He tosses the bag into a chair unceremoniously, not taking his eyes off the nurse. “Is it about Kagami?”

“Ah, yes.” The nurse dips her head a bit. “You’re Aomine Daiki, right?”

“That’s me. How is he?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” she begins, and Aomine is ready to protest, but she cuts him off, “but I was wondering if you would like to come back and speak with him yourself.”

Aomine feels his mind buzzing, and he nods. “Yeah. Take me to him.”

“Alright. Follow me.”

She walks back toward the “Personnel Only” doors. Aomine glances at Momoi, who smiles encouragingly and says, “Don’t worry, Dai-chan, I’ll watch your things,” and then he hurries to follow.

“This is against policy,” the nurse says quietly when he catches up to her again, following her through the door, “but he’s all alone until his dad arrives, and he’s been asking for you.” She sighs sympathetically. “He sustained serious injuries, and had to go through multiple surgeries – no young boy should have to face that alone, you see?”

Aomine doesn’t answer. He doesn’t really care about the nurse’s reasoning, so long as it gets him to Kagami’s side faster.

“If anyone asks, just tell them you’re his cousin,” she finishes, leading him through a door marked “Intensive Care.” There are beds lining one wall of the room here, most of them ringed by privacy curtains. Most of them are closed, and Aomine can hear family members and doctors talking in hushed tones behind them. He waits anxiously for the nurse to stop, and they’re at the next to last bed before she finally does. Kagami’s curtain is closed, so Aomine can’t see him yet.

“He’s heavily medicated, so he might not be very lucid. Don’t worry if he has trouble focusing or falls asleep on you.” She nods at him. “You can go in now.”

Aomine doesn’t hesitate – he opens the curtain, finally seeing the bed and the boy behind it.

If Aomine thought he looked terrible, Kagami looks so much worse.

His neck is in a brace, which keeps him from moving his head to look when Aomine comes in. One side of his face is heavily bruised, and Aomine can see more bruises on the same-side arm, turning his skin an ugly purple. He has at least three different tubes stuck in him, and Aomine wouldn’t be surprised if he has more where he can’t see. One of them is connected to a heart monitor, which steadily beats away.

“Whozzat?”

Kagami’s voice is slurred, but still recognizable. He strains a bit in his brace to see, and Aomine steps to the side of the bed and leans over him to help.

“Don’t hurt yourself more, Bakagami,” he admonishes, and Kagami can’t help but smile. His eyes are a bit unfocused, but they train on Aomine’s face. Aomine notices that it looks like he’s missing a tooth, four from the center.

“S’fine. My neck’s not even broken. They said this is a precaution.”

“I ought to break your neck and get the job over with. What are you doing getting hit by a car?”

Kagami frowns a little. “Wasn’t my idea.”

I know, part of Aomine wants to say. I’m glad you’re alive, another part. But the part that eventually speaks only says, “Stupid Bakagami,” before he sinks down in a small chair next to the bed.

“I don’t really remember,” Kagami says, moving his head in his brace slightly so he can see Aomine. Aomine leans forward so he can see better. “What happened?”

“We were crossing the street. Some asshole ran the light and hit you.” Aomine shrugs. “There’s nothing else.”

“Tha’s it?” Kagami’s brow wrinkles. “I remember something else.”

“Do you remember the part where I punched the guy who did it?”

“No. Jus’ remember you, mostly.”

Aomine remembers suddenly the part where he knelt by Kagami’s side, begging him not to die. He runs a hand through his hair and gives a huff through his nose. “It’s just like you to forget the best part.”

“Heh. Well, they said tha’s normal for shit like this. I’ll remember eventually.” He locks eyes with Aomine, and there’s concern in them. “You okay?”

Worry more about yourself, Aomine wants to say. Instead, he holds up his splinted fingers for Kagami to see. “Just this, from when I dove out of the way of the car. Like you should have.”

Kagami’s brow furrows again. “It took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“Bakagami.”

“Ahomine.”

And then, perhaps because the silliness of this line of insults in this situation tickled him, Kagami smiles, and then laughes a little, and Aomine feels something in his chest lighten.

Tetsu was right. He’ll be okay.

“So. How have you been making it?” he asks, when Kagami finally quiets. He remembers what the nurse said, about how no one should have to face the surgeries Kagami’s been through alone. He wonders if Kagami was scared, but he doubts the other boy would ever admit it if he were.

Sure enough, he doesn’t.

“S’fine. I’ve been asleep most of the time.” He yawns, as though to prove it. “They’ve got me on some kinda painkillers.”

“Huh. Sounds boring.” Aomine yawns too, and whether it’s to prove it was boring, or an infectious yawn from Kagami, or just the aftereffects of a sleepless night, he won’t clarify to Kagami. “Kinda glad they wouldn’t let me come back here.”

“You asked?”

Aomine starts. He hadn’t meant to reveal that when he said it, but now it’s out there. And he doubts there will be any denying that he stayed here all night, either.

He sighs, looking away from Kagami. “Yeah. I thought you were gonna die, so… you know.”

When he looks back, after several seconds of silence, Kagami has a big grin on his face. Aomine feels his cheeks starting to heat a bit, and he scowls to offset it. “What’s that look for?”

“No reason,” Kagami says, though he’s still grinning. “Just… thanks for not leaving, I guess.”

Aomine doesn’t stop scowling, even as he feels a lump in his throat. “Who says I didn’t leave?”

“You really gonna try to convince me you didn’t? With those rings under your eyes?”

Aomine turns his face away. “Shut up. My fingers hurt. They didn’t give me any painkillers.”

Kagami laughs again, then stops in a fit of coughing. Suddenly losing his embarrassment, Aomine half rises out of his chair, leaning over Kagami. It takes him longer than it really should, in Aomine’s opinion, but eventually Kagami stops coughing.

“S-sorry.”

“What the hell? It sounds like you have the flu, hacking like that,” Aomine snaps, his voice betraying his worry. For a moment there, it had almost been possible to forget how hurt Kagami is.

“Yeah. It happens sometimes.” Without offering any more explanation, Kagami leans his head back a bit and closes his eyes. “Sorry, I’m… getting really tired.”

Aomine hesitates, then sinks back down in his chair, rubbing his eyes while Kagami can’t see. “Yeah. Get some sleep.”

“But they… finally let you back here,” Kagami protests, struggling to open his eyes again.

Aomine scoffs. “I’ll still be here when you wake up, so just go to sleep.”

“You will?”

“Fragile” is not a word Aomine would ever have used to describe Kagami in the past, but for the first time, he thinks he could today.

“That’s what I just said. Did you lose your hearing when the car hit you?”

But that doesn’t mean he’ll treat Kagami that way.

Kagami snorts in forced amusement, and lets his eyes close again. “Nah, I just…”

Whatever Kagami was going to say dies in a mumble as he falls asleep. Aomine watches him for awhile to make sure he’s not about to wake up, and then he sinks further in his chair and leans his head back against the top of the back, and closes his own eyes.

Despite the uncomfortable position, he sleeps more deeply than he has in twenty-four hours.

…

He wakes up when the nurse from before slides past him to check one of Kagami’s tubes, bumping against his knees.

Aomine opens his eyes and stretches a bit in his seat, then watches the nurse. From what he can tell, Kagami is still asleep, oblivious to the bustling woman beside him.

When she’s done, she turns and catches Aomine’s eye. Without saying anything, she motions at him to move outside, then walks past him. Reluctantly, he gets up from his seat, casting one look back at the bed before following her out.

He’s already prepared a speech about why he can’t leave Kagami alone, but the nurse doesn’t even suggest it.

“He seems much more relaxed now. He woke up for a bit while you were asleep, and was very calm.”

“Yeah? Are you sure that’s not the medicine?”

“Yes, I am sure.” Her brow creases with concern. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but… when he would wake up before, his heart rate would spike, and he became very distressed.”

“And you think I’m helping with that?” Aomine is skeptical. Normally he riles Kagami up more than he calms him down.

“Yes, I do.” The nurse smiles at him, her face smoothing out. “He asked for you, after all. Sometimes just having a familiar face around is all anyone needs.”

Aomine doesn’t know what to say to that. “Will his father be here soon?” is what he asks instead.

“It’s been awhile since we talked to Kagami-kun’s father, but he was boarding a plane then. He should be here by tonight. You do know that once he’s here, you’ll have to leave, right?”

Aomine doesn’t say anything to that either. “Do you know how long he’ll be in the hospital?”

“Usually for spinal injuries like this, they stay in the hospital for eight weeks or so, sometimes longer. Then he’ll need several months of outpatient therapy after that.”

Eight weeks!? He’s going to miss the InterHigh. Aomine’s heart sinks, but he supposes he can’t expect much better, with how badly Kagami was hurt.

“When he’s stable enough, we’ll move him out of the ICU. Then you’ll be able to visit him during normal visiting hours.”

“But for now, I can stay until his dad gets here?”

“Yes. I think that would be best.”

She looks down at the chart she’s holding, preparing to move on to the next patient. “If you need anything, like food or water, just let me know. I’ll see if I can help.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s no trouble. I’ll be back later.”

Then she’s off, heading through the next curtain. Aomine doesn’t watch after her, instead returning to Kagami’s bedside.

He’s still asleep, though this time Aomine doesn’t join him. Instead, he sits and listens to the steady beep of Kagami’s heart monitor, the slight wheeze of his breath through an oxygen tube that’s been put in his nose.

Eight weeks. They can make it through that. Aomine is sure.

...

About an hour later, a different nurse comes in, carrying the bag Momoi brought him earlier.

“Aomine Daiki?” he asks for confirmation, and Aomine nods, reaching a hand out for the bag.

“A young lady in the waiting room sent this for you. She said to tell you that your phone is in there as well.”

“Thanks,” he says flatly, digging through the bag for said phone and not looking up as the nurse leaves. There’s a missed call from his parents there (which goes ignored), and some texts from Momoi.

Dai-chan! I have to go home now, so I’ve asked the nurse to bring you your stuff.

I guess you already got it so you know! Haha!

Tell Kagamin to get better soon! And you better go home and get some rest, Dai-chan!

Aomine sends her a terse, “Thanks,” and doesn’t text anything else. He pulls out the snacks Momoi brought them and eats them all, one after the other, while watching Kagami’s sleeping form. It’s miraculous, how talking to Kagami restored his appetite. Maybe Kagami’s hunger is infectious.

He’s just finished all the snacks when Kagami wakes up again. He opens his eyes, Aomine straightens up a bit and says, “Hey-“ and then Kagami is suddenly coughing harshly, head actually lifting from the pillow.

“Kagami!?”

Aomine jumps out of his chair, leaning over Kagami. His hands reach out and flex, as though to help, but he doesn’t know what to do. He’s useless as he watches Kagami hack and cough, so much he can barely wheeze breathes of air in. His heart monitor is beeping too fast, and all other sound is drowned out as Aomine’s own heart speeds up in time with the beeping.

He barely notices when he’s being pushed back until there are nurses in front of him, trying to steady his cough.

“It’s alright, Kagami-kun,” says the nurse from before, soothingly rubbing a hand on his arm. “Get your breath back. There you go.”

The heart monitor settles back down, and Kagami’s head sinks back against the pillow. He’s still wheezing, and he looks exhausted, but the coughing is over now.

The nurses check some of the wires and give him an injection of something (Aomine assumes it is painkillers). Then they bustle back out, leaving Kagami and Aomine alone again.

“…What the hell was that?” Aomine asks once he finds his voice. Somehow he feels more winded than Kagami.

“Like I said, it happens.” Kagami’s voice is hoarse, his eyes fluttering shut. “They said the injury to my spine lowered my lung capacity, or something like that.”

“Lowered lung capacity?” Aomine repeats, incredulous. “What does that have to do with your spine?”

“That’s what I thought.” Kagami gives another weak cough, and Aomine tenses, but he doesn’t devolve into a fit like before. “S’weird, right? Getting your spine hurt fucks up a lot of stuff you wouldn’t expect.”

“Huh.” Aomine wonders what else is hurt, but he’s not sure Kagami knows how to answer yet. Instead, he says, “They said you’ll be in here for eight weeks.”

“Eight!?” Kagami’s eyes open again, and he frowns up at Aomine. “I’m gonna miss the InterHigh.”

Aomine can’t help but grin. “At least it saves you from the pain of a humiliating defeat.”

“You wish,” huffs Kagami, but he’s still frowning. “How am I gonna survive for eight weeks in bed?”

“You could always read.”

“Tch.”

“Play video games?”

That gets a slightly more favorable look out of him. “I guess I could watch basketball, too.”

“Yeah.” Aomine shrugs. “Eight weeks without school or homework doesn’t sound like such a bad time to me.”

“But it’s eight weeks without playing,” says Kagami mournfully, and Aomine doesn’t know how to make it sound better. If it were Aomine himself, maybe he could survive eight weeks without practice… but surviving eight weeks without a game would be harder. And Kagami wasn’t Aomine – the idiot lived and breathed the sport. He might just suffocate in the hospital.

“Yeah. But you’ll make it through alright.”

Aomine isn’t looking at Kagami, eyes on his heart monitor, so he doesn’t see Kagami’s expression. When he finally looks back, Kagami’s eyes are closed again.

Just as Aomine is thinking he fell back asleep, Kagami says, “You gonna come visit me?”

“If I feel like it.”

Kagami smiles a little. “Alright. But you better be ready to entertain me.”

“Tch. Just appreciate my presence.”

“Heh. That’s asking a lot.”

Aomine sits down. Kagami falls back to sleep.

...

He watches Kagami for another hour before the curtain opens again, abruptly this time. There’s a man standing there, with once dark hair that is starting to turn salt-and-pepper and a suitcase with a fresh skid mark from an airport baggage carrousel.

Aomine can only assume this is Kagami’s father, and his stomach sinks.

The man doesn’t acknowledge Aomine’s presence, instead rushing to his son’s side, taking in the sight before him – all the tubes and wires running to Kagami, his bruises and cuts, the way he looks… small, almost, and Aomine frowns to himself at that thought. But it’s true, isn’t it? Kagami seems too tiny in the bed, surrounded by machines.

“Son? Taiga?” he says, reaching out to tap at Kagami’s shoulder to wake him. Kagami stirs, and Aomine tenses, but thankfully he doesn’t erupt into coughing like the time before. “Hey there.”

“Dad?” Kagami blinks his eyes twice, trying to focus. When he finally does, he smiles, a little relieved. “Hey.”

Kagami’s father laughs lightly, moving his hand from Kagami’s shoulder to his hair and giving it a very light ruffle. “Hey champ. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“’S no big deal,” Kagami slurs a little, his eyes drifting to half-mast. He’s still sleepy from the painkillers, Aomine supposes. “I’ll be outta here in… in no time.”

“Take it easy, Taiga,” his father admonishes, removing his hand from his son’s hair. “I just wanted you to know I’m here, alright? Go back to sleep, I’ll take care of everything.”

Kagami listens to that advice, eyes shutting completely. He’s snoring lightly in seconds, and Aomine watches him, still sitting in the same chair.

“Are you… Aomine Daiki?” the elder Kagami asks suddenly, and Aomine looks at him briefly, before training his eyes back on Kagami’s face.

“Yeah.”

“They told me you were here. Thank you for staying with my son.”

Aomine shrugs. He should really be more polite, but he doesn’t really want to play nice with the man right now, when he’ll most likely be thrown out at any minute.

Kagami’s father is not deterred by his reticence. “How has he been, while you’ve been back here?”

“He sleeps a lot.” Aomine shrugs again. “But he talks and laughs when he’s awake.”

“That’s good. That’s very good.” He sounds relieved, and Aomine looks up at him again. The relief is clear on his face as well, and while that should expected, a parent relieved to learn their child seems to be alright (all things considered), something about that expression makes Aomine tense up.

He wonders if Kagami’s father is relieved for his son’s health, or if he’s just relieved he’ll be able to return soon to his fancy job in America.

He doesn’t ask, though. He tries not to draw any attention to himself at all as the man goes in search of another chair. Maybe the staff will forget he’s here and he’ll be able to stay another night.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. A nurse comes by only minutes later, giving him a thin smile.

“I’m sorry, Aomine-kun, but you need to go now. You can come see your friend during normal visiting hours once he’s moved to a room.”

Aomine wants to argue, but he doubts it will work, and the last thing he needs to do is piss off the staff. If he obeys now, maybe he’ll have a better chance of coming back tomorrow.

So he stands up, looking down at Kagami, lying still in his bed. He feels like he should be doing something to let Kagami know he’s leaving, but Kagami’s father is watching, and Aomine isn’t sure how much Kagami has told him about them.

In the end, he fists his hand and gently raps his knuckles against Kagami’s.

Then he leaves the hospital, and heads home.

…

“I’m home.”

He doesn’t get an answer, and Aomine thinks he can slip up to his room unnoticed. He hasn’t quite made it to the stairs, however, when his mother suddenly appears in the kitchen doorway, holding a bowl of rice.

“There you are, Daiki! Dinner is ready.”

Aomine almost says he’s not hungry, but his stomach growls and reminds him that he hasn’t eaten a real meal since lunch the day before. He drops the bag Momoi brought him at the foot of the stairs and changes course for the kitchen.

“Oh goodness, Daiki! So that’s what that hooligan did to your hand,” his mother titters as he sits down at the table, grabbing his hand to display the splinted fingers to his father. Aomine could care less about his fingers at the moment, and yanks his hand away so he can reach for the soy sauce.

“They already got the guy who did it.”

“Yes, that’s what the police said. They called us earlier today.” Aomine’s father pauses to ladle out some rice before continuing. “Of course he was driving drunk when he hit you. We definitely have a case to make sure he pays for everything.”

“He didn’t hit me,” Aomine reminds him dully, feeling a pit in his stomach at the reminder. “He hit Kagami.”

“Of course, dear, and we’re keeping his family in our thoughts.”

“He’s not dead,” Aomine growls, glaring at his mother. She doesn’t even look up at him.

“Yes, of course not. But having their child in such a condition would be a strain on any parent.”

“That reminds me,” says his father, pointing a chopstick at Aomine. “Do you know Kagami-san’s phone number? Or even Kagami-kun’s number would be alright in this case.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to ask him if he wants to file a joint suit against the driver. It would save a bit on lawyer fees if we’re going in at the same time, and it could make our case even stronger, since his son underwent the most damage.”

Aomine stands up abruptly, grabbing his plate with one hand. “I’m going to eat dinner in my room.”

His parents acknowledge him by giving a wave in his direction, and he stomps up to his room. He doesn’t have much of an appetite anymore, but he eats anyway. It’s something to do.

His mother comes up once he’s already in bed, peeking around the door. “Daiki?” He grunts in response. “Be sure you go to school tomorrow, alright?”

Aomine rolls over to face the wall. “Yeah, Okaa-san. I’ll go to school.”

...

Aomine does not go to school.

He’s only in the waiting room for fifteen minutes before a nurse comes out, talking to another group about a different patient. Aomine gets up from his chair and stands only a few steps behind her, waiting with visible impatience for her to finish what she’s doing and turn around.

“Can I help you?” she asks as she finally swivels to face him, and Aomine is slightly dismayed. He’d thought he was being stealthy like Kuroko, but it’s harder to do when you’re the tallest guy in the room.

He doesn’t dwell on it, instead cutting right to the chase.

“Can you tell me anything about Kagami Taiga?”

She studies him for a moment, then asks, “Who are you?” Aomine scowls, but answers the question. “Wait here,” she says, and then she’s gone through the personnel door before Aomine can say anything more.

He’s sat back in a chair on the verge of sulking when the nurse returns, beckoning toward him from the doorway. “Come with me, please.”

Aomine’s surprised that he’s even allowed back again, but he doesn’t complain, jumping to his feet and hastily following her through the same hallway back to the same room and the same curtain.

“Kagami-san asked for you to come back,” she explains, and it takes Aomine a beat to realize she means the elder Kagami. He nods, like he expected that, and pushes through the curtain before she can even reach for it.

Kagami is awake, and his neck brace has been removed. He was watching his heart monitor with disinterest, but he looks away and brightens a little when Aomine enters, the corner of his lip turning up just a bit. Aomine takes one big step to get to his side.

“Are you ditching school?”

“What are you talking about? School ended a few hours ago.”

Kagami’s eyes widen in surprise. “It’s that late? Are you serious?”

“No, idiot. I’m ditching school.”

Kagami scowls. “Hey, there aren’t any windows in here! How am I supposed to know?”

“Ever heard of a clock?”

“There’s a clock in here?”

Aomine points at one on the wall above Kagami’s head. Kagami tries to look, but the angle is too severe for him to see, and he gives a huff of annoyance.

“I can’t see that, asshole.”

“Language, sport,” says a voice, and Aomine’s head jerks up. For the first time he notices Kagami’s father there, holding a cellphone to his ear with one hand over it to muffle the sound. He gives them a dismissive wave and then goes back to his phone call, stepping outside the curtain, though they can still hear him chattering just on the other side.

“Heh. You got in trouble,” Aomine taunts, and Kagami flips him off. Aomine can’t help but snicker, but the merriment quickly dies off when he gets a good look at Kagami.

Kagami looks… not tired, that’s not the right word, though Aomine certainly thinks he looks tired too, even with all the sleeping he’s done. But there is definitely something weighing him down, sapping the energy right out of him.

He seems full of dread.

“Are you okay?” Aomine asks after almost a minute of uncomfortable silence. The question sounds too abrupt, but he doesn’t know any more delicate ways to approach the subject. He did well enough not to note that Kagami looks like shit.

He’s expecting Kagami to brush that off with a laugh and a smile, even if he doesn’t feel up to it, because that’s the way Kagami is. So it throws Aomine off when Kagami doesn’t do that. He doesn’t even make a crack about Aomine worrying about him.

“Fine,” is all he says.

Silence crawls over them again; Aomine can hear the ever-present beep of the heart monitor and Kagami’s father squabbling with someone over the phone. Kagami’s not looking at him, so Aomine is forced to look elsewhere as well, once again taking in all the medical equipment surrounding Kagami’s bed.

“What do you need all this stuff for, anyway?” he asks out loud, just to end the silence. He’s not expecting Kagami to answer, and gives a small jump when Kagami does.

“So I don’t die.”

Aomine snorts out a laugh, because that has to be a joke. Kagami was hurt badly by the car, but he’s still alive, and that’s the way he’s going to stay. Another possibility had not crossed Aomine’s mind since he first got to visit Kagami the day before.

But Kagami does not laugh with him. Instead, he just closes his eyes and breathes slowly.

And then he coughs, and Aomine feels his chest suddenly tighten.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re fine! What would you even die of?”

“Blood clots, heart attacks, pneumonia-“

“Pneumonia!?”

“I told you, spinal injuries fuck with your lungs!” Kagami sighs, opening his eyes and looking at Aomine with too serious of an expression. “I probably won’t die. The doctor said I was in good health before and have a lower chance of anything… going wrong. But I’m still…”

Kagami trails off, taking in Aomine’s expression. He looks like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes too wide and mouth slightly open. Normally it would have made Kagami laugh freely, but not today.

Instead, his laugh is a forced sound, clearly faked only for Aomine’s benefit. He turns his gaze away, bashfully scratching at his hair with one hand (Aomine wonders if anyone has been washing it).

“Hah, never mind. Just forget I said anything.”

Aomine wants to say, “Fuck that,” because how is he supposed to forget Kagami saying he might die? Kagami is a true idiot if he thinks Aomine is going to let that go.

His urge to yell at the idiot over just that is strong, but after a moment he backs down. Kagami looks too tired, and too strangely emotional, and for once Aomine just can’t bring such barbed words to his tongue. This isn’t helping Kagami, and it’s not helping him, either. For once, Aomine has to find a solution that isn’t bickering.

Kagami’s hand is lying palm up on his bed, and without really thinking, Aomine reaches out and covers it with his own. Kagami’s head snaps back to him, eyes wide and mouth parted in that same deer in the headlights look Aomine knows he had earlier, but Aomine doesn’t back down. He can feel Kagami’s hand trembling in his, and Aomine realizes that what he felt on Kagami earlier wasn’t dread, it was fear.

“You’re not gonna die,” he says finally. He reaches out with his other hand, putting it on Kagami’s shoulder, and leans down so they’re only inches apart. He feels like he’s boxed Kagami in, but it seems like Kagami doesn’t mind at all.

“You’re not gonna die. You’re gonna be fine. I’m going to get my revenge on you during the Winter Cup. All of that is definitely gonna happen.”

Kagami stares at him for what feels like too long, and then he cracks a little smile, cocking his head at Aomine. “That last part sounds like a long shot.”

“Oh, it’s gonna happen. I have tricks up my sleeve you haven’t seen yet.”

“Hah. I’m looking forward to it.”

And then, suddenly, Kagami is leaning up, burying his face in Aomine’s shirt, one of his arms coming up to wrap around Aomine’s back – Aomine can feel a wire pressing against him. Aomine freezes, not sure how to handle this sudden development – Kagami is more physical than he is, sure, but he’s not normally affectionate, if that’s what this can be called.

In the end, Aomine stays still, letting Kagami hide there as long as he needs. He listens to the beat of the heart monitor the whole time, and it stays blessedly steady.

...[SKIP]

Aomine can hear Kagami’s father’s voice through the door when he gets to Kagami’s hospital room. He’s clearly arguing with someone on the phone, and Aomine thought to himself that he should really go somewhere else to do that. Kagami could be trying to sleep.

He catches himself, and wonders when he began to consider things like that.

His newfound consideration isn’t so great that it stops him from opening the door. He walks in, sidestepping the elder Kagami on his way to the bedside of the younger.

Kagami was typing something in his phone, but when he sees Aomine he puts it down, smiling. Aomine pauses at that smile – it’s not like Kagami didn’t smile before, but lately his smiles have been different, in a way Aomine can’t really name.

Perhaps as Aomine gets more considerate, Kagami gets more grateful.

He doesn’t spare much mental energy to figuring it out, though. As long as Kagami looks happy, things are okay.

“Hey. I wasn’t sure if you were going to show up today.” Kagami’s smile turns joking, and Aomine can’t help but smirk back at him.

“You’re a little more interesting than watching paint dry so I thought I would come.” He holds up the bag. “Here.”

He tosses them in Kagami’s lap, whose face lights up. “Burgers? Maji burgers?”

“Yeah. They’re getting cold so I don’t want ‘em.”

Kagami is barely listening to him as he rips the bag open and pulls out a burger, unwrapping it with fervor. “I don’t care if they’re freezing. This hospital food sucks.”

He takes a huge, Kagami-sized bite, and groans rapturously as he chews, closing his eyes and leaning his head back. “Mmph. This ish sho good,” he says, mouth full, and Aomine scowls in disgust.

“Ugh. Close your mouth, Bakagami.”

Kagami doesn’t seem in the least concerned about being judged. He keeps making an elaborate show of enjoying the burger, until his father ends his call and steps to the edge of the bed.

“Taiga, show some restraint, please,” he says with distaste. “Are you sure you should even be eating something like that?”

“Come on, Dad,” Kagami huffs, still around a mouth full of food. “If I eat any more of that crap hospital food I’m gonna die.”

His dad sighs. “I suppose it can’t be helped. You don’t even listen to your old man anymore…”

Kagami rolls his eyes, then closes them again and makes even more orgasmic noises over the hamburger. Aomine wishes Kagami’s dad would leave the room – the innuendos are writing themselves, but he can’t even say any of them.

“Anyway, Aomine-kun,” Mr. Kagami says, pulling Aomine’s attention away from Kagami’s face stuffing, “I’m glad you’re here. If you don’t mind, could you please keep Taiga company for awhile? I need to meet some people back at the apartment.”

“Yeah. I was planning to stay for awhile anyway.”

“Good, good.” Mr. Kagami nods, pleased. “We’re getting the tub replaced with a wheelchair accessible shower today. It’s very nice.”

Aomine blinks. “Wheelchair accessible?” He vaguely notices Kagami has stopped eating.

“Of course.” Mr. Kagami nods again. “I own that apartment, so we’re getting several modifications done to it so it will be wheelchair ready for Taiga. I wanted to move him to one that was already accessible, but he’s attached to the place, and it is close to his school-“

“I get it.” Aomine cuts him off. “But isn’t that a little excessive? He’ll be done with his therapy in eight weeks, right?”

Mr. Kagami stares at him in confusion. “That is when his therapy will be done, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything. After all, he can’t walk.”

Aomine feels the edges of his vision darken, narrowing further and further on a point somewhere past Kagami’s father’s head. “What do you mean? That’s what the therapy is for, isn’t it?”

“Didn’t Taiga tell you?” Mr. Kagami’s voice gets softer. “My son… Taiga is paralyzed from the waist down. He’s never going to walk again.”

Aomine’s ears ring as he turns around, staring at Kagami. Kagami still isn’t eating, has dropped the second burger into his lap with only one bite missing. He’s not looking at Aomine, and that pisses him off.

“What the hell, Kagami,” he says, taking a step toward the bed. Behind him he hears Kagami’s father making a noise of protest, but he ignores it. “Were you ever going to tell me about this?”

“I was gonna!” Kagami snaps, overly defensive. “I just… there wasn’t a good moment, you know?”

“A good moment? What the hell does that mean?”

“I didn’t know how you would react!”

“So what!? That isn’t exactly something you keep from me, you know!”

“Why is it any of your business, anyway!?” Kagami yells, and Aomine feels himself actually flinch.

“What the fuck are you saying!? Of course it’s my business-“

“Aomine-kun,” says Mr. Kagami forcefully, his hand on Aomine’s shoulder, and Aomine realizes his hands were balled into fists. “I think that’s quite enough.”

Aomine jerks his shoulder out of the man’s grip, turning to push past him on his way. “He started it,” is all he says, before he’s out the door.

His thoughts are an angry whirlwind as he stomps out of the hospital. Where does Kagami get off, not telling him something that important? Saying it’s not any of his business? What was he going to say when he showed up for a date in a wheelchair in eight weeks? “Sorry, I forgot to tell you I can never walk again”?

It’s easier to stay angry at Kagami than it is to confront anything else about the situation – what this means for Kagami, for him, for them. Aomine doesn’t know what to do with those questions, so he doesn’t give them any thought. Instead, he fumes at Kagami keeping secrets from him – huge secrets. Was he doing it just to piss Aomine off? Honestly.

Why is it any of your business, anyway!?

Kagami’s words echo in his head as he walks down the street, but he can’t make any sense of them. How could it possibly not be his business? Aomine is his… person who goes on outings that could be called dates with him. He should have been the first person to know. Is he the first person to know, or is it just Aomine who wasn’t privileged to the information?

He considers asking Kuroko – if anyone would know besides him, it would be Kagami’s best friend. But his pride is wounded, and if Kuroko does know, he doesn’t want Kuroko learning that he hadn’t been trusted with the big secret.

And if Kuroko doesn’t know… he should.

Aomine’s angry, and some part of him wants to spread Kagami’s secret around. That would teach him not to keep such huge secrets. Then he could have fun explaining to everyone else how it isn’t “any of their business” that he can never walk again. Then he can know how it feels to have his trust-

Aomine stops that train of thought with a slow breath, in and out through his nose. He and Kagami weren’t like that, after all. Sure, they had fun together, played basketball together, had sex together… but it wasn’t like they did all that mushy, lovey dovey crap like in the movies. Whatever trust they had was surface level, at best. Aomine knew that going in.

At least it hurts less to think that way.

He’s still mad as hell when he arrives home, though. Angrily, he types a text into his phone (“Kagami Taiga can’t walk anymore”) and starts addressing it to everyone in his phonebook who also knows Kagami. It’s a shorter list than he would have liked, but news will travel fast.

He’s staring at his contacts, wondering why he has two numbers for Murasakibara and wondering which is the real one, when he gets a text.

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.

Aomine closes the message angrily, trying to ignore it. He doesn’t want that asshole’s apologies, he just wants petty revenge.

He picks one of the Murasakibaras out of frustration and is scrolling around for Kise when his phone vibrates, announcing another message from Kagami. And a few seconds later, another.

Aomine silences his phone and sets it down on the desk in his room, without sending the message out. Without opening Kagami’s texts. He lays down on his futon, unmade from that morning, and stares up at the ceiling. When his mother calls that dinner is ready, he says he’s not hungry, and they don’t bother him again.

He stays that way all night, and barely sleeps.

…

He wakes too early to go to school yet. Of course, the one day he would rather have school to distract him from his phone, and it’s not even open until later.

He rolls over and tries to go back to sleep, but he can’t. His brain is still racing, still echoing with Kagami’s words from the day before. He wonders what’s in the texts.

Might as well see what the bastard has to say for himself.

He gets up and gets his phone off the desk. The battery is low because he forgot to charge it, but he ignores the warning and opens his texts. There’s six new ones from Kagami.

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.

I meant what I said, that I really didn’t know a way to say it. I didn’t want to make a good conversation suck, or a sucky conversation even suckier.

And I guess it’s not easy for me to accept.

Everyone kept talking to me like I’m going to get better. Like I’m going to be playing again in the winter.

And with everyone talking like that, it was easy to believe it.

Guess I was just kidding myself, huh?

An hour passed between that text and the next one – Kagami waiting for an answer that didn’t come.

I get that you’re pissed at me or whatever. I should’ve told you as soon as I knew. Just let me know that you got home okay. Or something.

Aomine stares at the texts for a long time, reading them over and over again. His eyes keep lingering on the fourth text – that’s the one that makes it easier to understand.

Finally, he texts back.

Does anyone else know?

He expected to wait a few hours for the answer, so he’s surprised when there’s a reply only minutes later.

No. Besides my dad and the hospital people.

So he was the first after all. Aomine feels something unknot in his chest. He still feels a little angry (how does he know Kagami actually planned to tell him first?), but knowing that he wasn’t out of the loop makes it sting less.

Ok.

And yes I got home alright, mom.

While he’s waiting for the return text, he opens his drafts. There’s the message from the night before, still waiting for him, its list of recipients lined up and ready to go.

Aomine presses “Delete Draft,” and the text is lost forever, just as Kagami replies.

Fuck you.

Aomine wants to laugh. Aomine wants to pretend like things are back to normal.

But they’re not.

... [SKIP]


The days pass, growing hotter as early summer sets in. The heat drives Aomine back indoors from his roaming, but at least he can find it easier to sleep now. Like a cat, he naps in the sunny spot in his room, but is too often pulled awake from dreams of Kagami being with him.

He’s still not attending basketball practice, and he barely keeps track of their team’s schedule, so he very nearly misses the first day of the InterHigh preliminaries. Very nearly, only because Momoi shows up at his door, twenty minutes before the team is supposed to meet up.

“Daiki! Satsuki-chan is here to see you!” his mother calls from downstairs, and Aomine awakens with a snort, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He’s laying with the sheets mostly flung off him, still in only a t-shirt and some boxers, but if Momoi is concerned about his state of undress, she doesn’t show it as she flings the door open.

“Dai-chan, what are you doing still in bed!? Get up and get dressed!”

Aomine sighs, letting his head fall back on his pillow and covering his eyes with his forearm. “It’s not polite to barge into people’s room like this, Satsuki.”

“We don’t have time for this, Dai-chan! Come on!”

“The team will be fine without me.”

Momoi sighs, and Aomine can hear her walking around his futon. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’ve forced my hand.”

He hears her rifling through his things, and with a sinking feeling in his gut, he lifts his arm off his face. “Satsuki…”

She pulls out his stack of Mai-chan magazines, very deliberately pulling out one of the special editions (and one of his favorites, with a busty picture of Mai-chan in a low-cut yukata on the front). Then, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a lighter.

He sits up quickly. “You wouldn’t.”

Click. The lighter produces flame, and, very slowly, Momoi lowers the magazine towards it.

Aomine stands up. “Alright, alright. I’m getting dressed.”

“Thank you, Dai-chan!” she sing-songs, walking out of his room to give him privacy (and, he notices, taking the magazine and lighter with her, just in case).

In a few minutes, Aomine is relatively presentable. Satsuki says goodbye to his mother before the two of them set off to meet the rest of the team.

Along the way, Momoi talks animatedly about the teams they’ll be facing. Aomine tunes her out, not particularly interested - until they start playing the other teams with members of the Generation of Miracles, he doubts any of them will present much of a challenge.

Really, there’s only one team he’s curious about, and when Momoi finally slows down, he ventures to ask, “What about Seirin?”

“We’ll only play them if they make it through the preliminaries.”

Aomine grunts in response and doesn’t say anything else. He hopes that’s the end of it, but after a minute of walking, Momoi speaks up.

“Did something happen between you and Kagamin?”

“Huh?”

“You stopped visiting him, and you’ve been even more moody than usual.”

Aomine huffs in what might be described as a moody way. “We just got tired of being around each other, that’s all.”

Momoi isn’t convinced. “Is that really all?”

”If being here makes you uncomfortable, Aomine, then why don’t you just go home?”

“He said he doesn’t want to see me,” says Aomine with a shrug.

“He did!? That doesn’t sound like Kagamin.”

“Yeah. He said that he doesn’t want to talk about basketball, and if that makes me uncomfortable, I should get out.”

Momoi puts a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “That doesn’t sound like he was asking you to leave, though.”

Aomine hesitates. Had Kagami really meant for him to leave? He’d sounded so sure, and so tired… How could he have meant anything else?

“If you’d been there, then you’d know that’s what he meant,” says Aomine, and he hopes that he’s as right as he felt at the time. “After all, when it comes to basketball, I’m his biggest reminder.”

“Maybe…” Momoi doesn’t sound convinced. “But is basketball really all you had with Kagamin?”

What does that mean? Basketball was all they did together. They met up for games, they met up for one-on-one, they met up to watch basketball in Kagami’s apartment. Basketball was supposed to be where their future was: playing each other through college, playing each other in the pro leagues. It had been central to everything they were, until everything changed.

If that makes you uncomfortable, Aomine…

“There wasn’t a lot else.”

Momoi side-eyes him, then chuckles, lowering her hand. “Let me put it this way, Dai-chan. Is basketball all you liked about Kagamin?”

Aomine lets that question settle over him. What does he like about Kagami? Well, he likes playing basketball with him. What else is there?

There’s a big, warm smile when Kagami is happy, sometimes so bright that Aomine has to look away.

There’s a bright red blush and an embarrassed pout whenever Kagami says something dramatic.

There’s stupid fights and impromptu contests that end in laughter and friendly ribbing, with Kagami’s eyes always challenging him on to the next thing.

There’s a home, opened to him too easily, with the smells of warm food and the promise of a warm place to sleep, where Kagami accepted him instantly, made him feel like he belonged there all along.

He never answers Momoi’s question, but she folds her arms and chuckles, clearly satisfied.

...[SKIP]

It’s a cool night, one of those spring nights that’s still resisting the heat of the approaching summer. Aomine can see each puff of air as he pants, watching the ball he’s just released from his formless shot glide through the air. It’s got a beautiful arc and it’s perfectly on target, but-

Kagami gets a finger on it.

The ball’s arc is wobbly now, and it hits the rim. Both of them watch, with bated breath, as it rolls around the rim, again and again, before, finally, tipping into the net and falling through.

Kagami hisses in disappointment at the same time Aomine whoops, and the alarm on his phone goes off. With that buzzer-beater, Aomine won the game by two points.

“Hah! I win again, Kagami!” Aomine crows, throwing an arm around Kagami’s shoulders. They’re walking back towards Kagami’s apartment now, and everything is normal.

“I’ll get you next time,” says Kagami, and he’s smiling, so big and bright that it hurts to look at sometimes. Aomine slides off him, walks ahead of him into the street.

Kagami is only a few steps behind him, but suddenly Aomine’s chest feels tight with anxiety. He wants to close the space between them – wants Kagami to be up alongside him. He wills himself to wait, to stop moving forward, but his feet skip ahead of his own accord, trying to be the first across. “Catch up, slowpoke,” he says over his shoulder, and it sounds like a scream of desperation in his ears.

Somewhere nearby, there are cicadas chirping. It’s too loud in his ears, getting louder by the second and they crescendo into a drone that drowns out everything else. He thinks it’s too early for cicadas – isn’t it only spring?

The cicadas continue on, undaunted. They sound like a buzz now – the rev of an engine. The rolling of tires on pavement.

He sees a light and looks, and suddenly Kagami’s voice is roaring in his ear.

“AOMINE!”

And then he feels it: strong hands pushing hard on his side, hard enough to lift him into the air just slightly. Time slows down and he can feel every millisecond they’re against his tank top, rough hands worn by blisters from weights and basketballs and falling down and picking himself back up again. Hands that Aomine has felt all over his body, sometimes teasing, sometimes sensual, but never like this. These are desperate hands.

He turns as he falls, and he sees Kagami, framed by the light of the headlights. Their eyes meet for just a moment, and then-

Aomine falls and there’s a thud, a sickening crunch. The cicadas are still droning in his ears, getting louder and heavier, and his mind is spinning with only one thought rising through the fog.

He PUSHED me.

…

“Aomine? Aomine!”

Aomine feels a hand shaking his shoulder, and realizes he’s sitting up in Kagami’s bed, staring at his lap and his hands fisted in the sheets. Outside, the cicadas are still buzzing in the evening heat, and even now that he’s awake he’s too hyperaware of it. There’s sweat dripping down his face, and it flecks the sheets with dark spots.

“…Daiki?” Kagami ventures, more quietly, clearly concerned. Aomine turns to look at him, and Kagami flinches, his hand tightening around Aomine’s shoulder. It occurs to him that it might not be sweat dripping down his face after all.

“You pushed me.”

Kagami’s eyes widen even further, and then he has the guts to shrug. Aomine sees red.

“You pushed me!” He yells this time, and realizes he’s standing now, one foot on either side of Kagami’s hips, stooped so he doesn’t hit the ceiling. “You fucking pushed me out of the way!” He reaches out to grab at Kagami’s shirt, but Kagami isn’t wearing on, so he settles for gripping Kagami’s shoulders instead, giving him a shake. “What the hell were you thinking!?”

“You… you were going to get hit.” Kagami’s eyes are still wide, and he seems confused, not sure how to react to this.

“How do you even know?” Aomine shakes his shoulders again. “Didn’t you forget everything!?”

“Th-that was months ago! I remember almost all of it now!”

“So you do remember pushing me.” Aomine bares his teeth, leaning close. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought you remembered!”

“You really think if I had remembered something like that, I wouldn’t have said anything to you about it!?”

Kagami’s still giving him a bewildered look, and Aomine knows he’s not thinking clearly enough to lie. So perhaps that’s why he says, so simply, “Well… yeah.”

For a moment, Aomine can’t move, or think, or speak at all. Then all the tension drains out of him, and he sinks onto his knees, not caring that he just landed in Kagami’s lap. He leans his head against Kagami’s chest, hands still grasping onto Kagami’s shoulders, and scrunches up his face. Now he can’t lie to even himself that it’s just sweat on his face.

“I guess I deserved that.”

“No, it’s not- I didn’t mean it like- shit.”

Kagami takes a deep breath, then lays a hand on Aomine’s back. It’s awkward at first, but then Kagami starts to move, stroking Aomine’s back gently. It feels soothing, at least, and Aomine rewards Kagami by releasing his shoulders and threading his arms around his torso instead.

“I meant,” Kagami tries again, slower this time, “that I’m used to you… bottling stuff up, right? I thought that was just… how you were dealing with it.” He stills his hand, and pulls Aomine closer to his chest. Aomine is forced to change positions, burying his face in Kagami’s neck now. “I should have said something. Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Aomine asks, raising his head and scrubbing at his face with one arm. “You… fucking save my life, and now you’re apologizing to me?”

“I’m not apologizing for that!” Kagami huffs. He’s pouting a little, and it would have made Aomine smile if he didn’t feel like shit. “Just… I should have realized this was gonna freak you out. Maybe I could have done something… maybe you could have remembered this in therapy or something, I don’t know. It would probably be better than remembering it like this.”

Aomine wrinkles his nose at that idea – he’s not sure he would want anyone other than Kagami seeing him in his current state. But here with Kagami, even being this vulnerable feels safe.

Of course, the other teen did literally save his life.

“Why?” he asks, getting a bit more comfortable in Kagami’s lap and laying his face back in the crook of Kagami’s neck. “Why did you do it?”

“You were going to get hit,” Kagami repeats, and his voice sounds almost infuriatingly innocent.

“So what? You were behind me, right? You could have just stayed out of the way, and then you would be fine now.”

“Yeah, but you might be the one in the wheelchair instead,” says Kagami, still sounding like he doesn’t understand the problem.

“That’s my point.” Aomine pulls himself up to look in Kagami’s eyes. “If our positions were reversed, I’d just let you get hit by the car.”

Kagami snorts, looking a little amused. “Thanks. I’ll remember that next time we’re in a life-threatening situation.”

His smile falls at the severe look on Aomine’s face. “No. Don’t you ever do something like that to me again.”

“…Okay. Deal,” says Kagami softly, and his hand is rubbing Aomine’s back again. He sighs, leaning back in against Kagami’s shoulder.

“I still don’t get it. You… saved me. And sacrificed playing basketball for me. It’s not like we were even… boyfriends, or anything.”

“We were dating. Weren’t we?”

Aomine doesn’t argue with that. He would have denied it at the time, but things change. He’d never deny it now.

Once it becomes clear he’s not getting an answer, Kagami sighs. “Look… Daiki. I like you. So I saved you. That’s all there is to it.”

“Don’t make it sound so simple.”

“But it is that simple.”

“But was it really worth what you have to go through now?” Am I worth it?

“Yeah,” Kagami says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and once again Aomine feels tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

“But I… I haven’t really been much help to you. And I fucking left!”

“Yeah.” Kagami grimaces, not looking at Aomine. “That one hurt. Like, a lot. But we’re passed that now, right? And you have been a really big help. I… don’t think you know how bad off I’d be if you weren’t here.”

Aomine doesn’t like thinking about that. He rubs Kagami’s back now, feeling Kagami relax against his hand. “But you wouldn’t even be in this mess if it weren’t for me.”

“Maybe.” Kagami leans his head back to look at the ceiling then shrugs. “But that’s not the way it worked out, right? There’s no use thinking about what ifs.”

“Even though you can’t play anymore?” Aomine raises his own head, staring at Kagami.

Kagami looks back down at Aomine. “Basketball is… was a big part of my life, and I miss it all the time. But there’s always been things I care about more.”

And then he smiles, and it’s so bright, Aomine feels like he has to look away. But he doesn’t, no, because the man who saved his life, the man who’s given him everything, deserves nothing less than his everything back.


He leans in then, and kisses Kagami, moving a hand to cup his cheek. He’s never given Kagami a kiss this soft before – normally, it wouldn’t suit them and their style of loving. But right now, he has to let Kagami know, in actions if not in words, that he feels the same.

They kiss like that for a long time, even after Kagami’s back gives out and they lay tangled together in the bed sheets. Eventually, Aomine finds himself lying against Kagami’s side, arms wrapped around his chest, while Kagami dozes off in his arms.

It occurs to Aomine that he is one lucky son of a bitch.

… [SKIP]

“Do you wanna… start going out again?”

Aomine realizes as soon as he asks that question that it sounds odd, coming as they lay in Kagami’s bed together, naked. Normally going out comes before sex, right?

It’s not like he and Kagami usually had any regard for how people normally did things.

Kagami doesn’t open his eyes, comfortable where he is. “Okay. And do what?”

“What we always do.”

Kagami does open his eyes at that. “All we ever do is play basketball when we go out.”

“Oh. Right.” Aomine groans, sitting up. “What do other people do when they go out?”

“Uh.” Kagami scratches his nose. “I don’t know.”

“How do you not know? Do you know about anything besides basketball and cooking?”

“You’re the one asking me!” Kagami protests, baring his teeth. “You brought it up, why don’t you have an idea!?”

“You come up with an idea!”

“Seriously…” Kagami pinches the bridge of his nose. “I guess they go eat at nice restaurants? And go to movies? Shit like that.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Yeah.” A silent moment passes, and then Kagami sighs. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, moron,” says Aomine, giving his chest an annoyed swat, and it makes Kagami smile a little. “I’d be fine with just sleeping and eating and fucking, but I guess we should go outside sometimes. I don’t know how you don’t have cabin fever.”

“I guess I wouldn’t mind going outside for something other than rehab.” Kagami stretches his arms up over his head. “Even if we just go for a walk or something. Or maybe go down by the mall…”

The mall…

“Oi. Do you still only have one pair of shoes?”

“I have two pairs! The basketball shoes and my uniform shoes. Why?”

Aomine grins. “Let’s go shoe shopping then.”

Unfortunately, this suggestion doesn’t have the effect Aomine desired. “Aomine. I don’t need basketball shoes anymore.”

Kagami’s voice has that same sunken tone Aomine has heard far too much. He feels a knot in his throat, and he wonders if he should drop it – if this is a subject that’s too close to things Kagami’s not ready to face.”

He looks away, and his eyes land on the pair of shoes he gave Kagami what feels like an age ago, wearing already from before the accident. The last time he saw them on Kagami was… the night of the accident.

But still… did that mean Kagami couldn’t wear them?

“Why not?” he finally says to Kagami’s question.

“What?”

“Why not?” He shrugs, still looking at the shoes.

“Wh- you know why not!” Kagami snaps, and his voice is still teetering too close to that same overwhelming sadness. Aomine doesn’t want that, so he course corrects.

“I just think you look good in them, that’s all.” He shrugs again, and Kagami seems to relax a little. Emboldened, Aomine continues. “Hell, we don’t even have to look at basketball shoes. But you seriously need more than two pairs.”

“Why?”

Aomine gives him a slow blink. “You’re an idiot,” he says simply, and Kagami scowls. But Aomine would rather have him mad than sad. “What if you need something other than basketball shoes or uniform shoes?”

Kagami’s frown grows less severe. “I guess…”

Aomine gets his grin back. “We can go to Maji Burger, and then the mall. I’ll show you where you can find shoes that are actually in your size.” Kagami huffs, but Aomine is undeterred. “We’ll find shoes that make you look hot.”

Kagami grins at that. “You got a shoe fetish or somethin’?”

Aomine rolls so he’s hovering over Kagami, straddling his hips. Even if Kagami can’t really feel it, the intended effect is still there, Kagami’s face flushing with heat just a little. They’re both still naked, after all.

“Maybe I do,” Aomine teases, leaning down so his lips are inches above Kagami’s. “So are you gonna deny me some fun or what?”

Kagami seems to consider, just as teasing, before raising his head just enough to capture Aomine’s lips in a kiss.

“Why not? It’s more interesting than laying around here,” he says when he pulls away, letting his head flop back on his pillow. The heat’s gone again, and he looks more than a little tired.

“I knew you’d see it my way.” Aomine rolls back off him, only a little reluctantly. He wouldn’t mind going again, but he doubts Kagami has the strength in him for it. It’s another thing they’ve had to get used to, but Aomine doesn’t mind.

Taking a nap sounds nice too.

“We’ll go tomorrow,” he says decisively, before Kagami has to admit his current state of exhaustion. He settles down next to Kagami, pillowing his head on his arm. “How’s that?”

“Sounds great.” Kagami yawns, confirming what Aomine already knew, and lets his eyes fall closed. “I can’t believe it. We’re going to go on a date. Us.”

“Don’t call it that. It sounds weird.”

Kagami chuckles. “I like it.”

He’s asleep before Aomine can find a way to respond to that.

…

Aomine feels like making Kagami get out of the house was a good choice almost the minute they’re out in the sunshine the next day.

Kagami smiles with a lightness he hasn’t in awhile as he wheels his chair alongside Aomine down the street, looking at everything almost like a kid who’s never seen any of this before. Aomine supposes it is the first time Kagami’s been out of the house for anything other than physical therapy since he was released for the hospital, but the way he takes it in like he’s starved makes Aomine wish he had done it sooner.

They get to Maji Burger, and Kagami orders more hamburgers than should be humanly possible, as usual. Aomine orders several burgers for himself, and carries his own tray while Kagami carries his in his lap. It takes some kicking chairs out of the way, but Aomine gets them a table.

...[SUMMARY]

Kagami’s father opens the door.
“Ah, Aomine-kun… I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
Awkward. “Is Kagami here?” (Or Taiga? Idk what Japanese people usually do when asking a parent about their kid when they’re on a family name basis lmao)
“Yes… He’s eating breakfast.”
“Can I come in?”
“Just a moment.”
Kagami’s dad closes the door. Aomine can hear him and Kagami talking inside. Then the door opens again, except this time it’s Kagami.
This is the first time Aomine’s seen Kagami in his wheelchair. He thinks about how short it makes Kagami look.
“Hey. Aomine.” He sounds confused. Aomine realizes he didn’t plan anything to say at this point.
“What’s for breakfast? Smells good.”
Kagami looks like he might yell or laugh at that. Instead he just lets Aomine in. “Rice, fish, hash browns. You can have some if you want.”
Aomine follows him inside (notices some things that are different). Kagami’s dad has gone back to his room. They sit at the table; Aomine eats.
“Shit. You made this, right? I almost forgot how good your cooking is.”
“Yeah.” Kagami isn’t eating, staring at Aomine. “Why are you here, Aomine?”
Oh right. Aomine stops eating. “Kuroko told me you came home, so I came to see how you were doing.”
“Is that the only reason you came?”
“Yeah.”
“Kuroko told me that they pulled you out in the game against Seirin. Said you weren’t playing right.”
Aomine sighs. “He told you about that, huh?”
“Yeah. So what’s going on, Aomine?”
He might as well come clean. “I missed seeing your ugly mug out there, that’s all.”
“…what?”
“I missed seeing your-“
“YOU missed ME? You run out, I don’t see you for MONTHS, and then you come back and say you MISSED ME?”
Kagami’s dad comes back. “Everything okay in here, boys?”
They both calm down a little and shoo him away. Once he’s gone the air is chilly in the kitchen.
“…I only left because I thought you wanted me to,” Aomine finally says.
Kagami is incredulous. “When did I say that?”
“You told me that you didn’t want to be reminded of basketball. Of what we had.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So aren’t I the biggest reminder?”
“What?”
“Everything about us revolves around basketball, right? So how can you still want me around if you don’t want to be reminded!? I thought-“
“Boys.” Kagami’s dad interrupts again. Tells them he has to go into the office until the afternoon. He asks Kagami if he wants a nurse to come, but Kagami says he doesn’t need one for a few hours. Kagami’s dad says he doesn’t feel right leaving Kagami alone yet.
“I’ll stay with him.”
Both Kagamis are surprised at Aomine’s offer. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”
“It’s fine, Dad. He can stay.”
So Kagami’s dad leaves. Aomine and Kagami don’t talk much until he does, and they have privacy again.
“What were you going to say before?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re my biggest reminder… do you really think that?”
“I said forget about it.”
Kagami sighs. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Aomine.”
Aomine gets angry. “There you go, doing that shit again!”
“What!? What did I do!?”
“’You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Aomine.’ THAT shit! How am I supposed to know what you want when you say shit like that!?”
“I’m telling you to do what YOU want!”
“I already know what I want! What do YOU want!” Aomine is leaned right down in Kagami’s face now.
“I want you to want to stay! Asshole!”
“Then why didn’t you just say that!? Idiot!”
“Because I didn’t want you to stay only because I asked! Why did YOU leave!?”
“Because I thought I was hurting you! Because I was reminding you of basketball!”
“That’s stupid!”
“How is it stupid!?”
“Because I like you for more than basketball!!”
Aomine has an oh shit moment.
And then angry/make up makeouts ensue.


UnderTheWeight 2017-1-26 09:52PM
...about the time I have the ADA quoted to me is about the time I wonder if this app is really worth it...
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UnderTheWeight 19 minutes ago
You know how I say I have to work ten times as hard for anything...? I'm really not being hyperbolic when I say that.

UNIVESE★STIVEN 18 minutes ago
ada?

UnderTheWeight 16 minutes ago
Americans with Disabilities Act

UNIVESE★STIVEN 13 minutes ago
is that something to do with your au?

UnderTheWeight 12 minutes ago
Yep.

UnderTheWeight 11 minutes ago
And it's like, okay, I could just directly revise to say, "hey yeah, discrimination exists even in the presence of laws and said laws can be circumvented", but I think I need to see if I can talk to the mod team to make sure we're on the same page about this...

UnderTheWeight 10 minutes ago
Because they seem to be unaware that I know such laws exist to begin with, and now I have to wonder if there's more idealism in place here than I can adequately address with revisions in a vacuum.

UNIVESE★STIVEN 10 minutes ago
yeah idk....

UNIVESE★STIVEN 10 minutes ago
quoting the actual law seems a bit extra

UnderTheWeight 6 minutes ago
Yeah, in detail.

UnderTheWeight reply 5 minutes ago
I'd really like to know if anyone else's backstory is getting this level of scrutiny.