AN: Hey guys! Apparently I'm posting this instead of updating my story. Ah, well... This has been sitting in my drafts for a long time and I've decided it's time to post it. Warning: mild cursing and also it's just generally sad. I would love some feedback to hear what you guys think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

They say he died on contact. They say it was painless. That's not what he says to me every night when he screams his way into my dreams. It's almost laughable, almost. There's absolutely no way that being crushed by the rubble of your own office building could possibly be painless. Earthquake. Earthquake. It's become my least favorite word by a landslide. Crap, I should probably stop. The stupid pages of this stupid journal are getting smudged. You know what? I'm done for tonight. Not just tonight, actually, I think I'm done with this forever. Stupid journal never did anything anyway. Gotta stop. Next part is too painful. Gotta stop. Bye. Stupid journal. Gotta stop. Bye.

...…...

Aomine Daiki closed his notebook for the last time, failing to notice that despite the short entry he'd been at it for hours, writing and rewriting, finally giving up when his bitter tears, filled with feelings that were ancient history, had smudged the words to the brink of illegibility. He scoffed, although it came out a bit more like a sob, at how pathetic he had become. Aomine Daiki, crying over words on a page. Now THAT was laughable.

But it didn't matter, none of it mattered because Taiga was dead and he always would be and nothing or no one could change that ever no matter how much one tried and- and... His blood pressure was rising rather quickly. His breathing wasn't doing too great either. Somewhere, in some junk cabinet, he had medicine for that, but no part of him felt like retrieving it. He'd tough it out, he decided.

It was a sleepless night, but not a dreamless one, and Aomine Daiki was visited, plagued, more than a few times by the trademark screams and whimpers of Taiga, trapped under that rubble forever but never losing his voice.

...…...

The next morning was not much better, Daiki thought, but at least the dreams were gone for the day. Kagami Daiki, his brain decided to whisper (more like torture) out of nowhere, and oh how he missed the days when that name and the life that came with it was in his reach.

It wasn't every single day that ended or began like that, not all of them. Sometimes there was some barely recognizable semblance of joy instilled in him by a desperate Satsuki, a worried Tetsu. But this was one of Those Days, one of his Bad Days, when not Tetsu or Satsuki, not even the overly excited Kise managed to bring out his glaringly fake smile and no one could pull him out of the ditch he often found himself falling straight into. One day, his friends reckoned, he'd sink too far into the ditch and no one would be able to yank him out.

Would the scars eventually heal on their own? Probably not. It was rather hard to recover from losing the person you were sure was the one, the person who probably was the one. Besides, Daiki mused, his now trademark scent of cigarettes, vomit, and hopelessness probably wouldn't be attracting a new boyfriend anytime soon.