Hey guys.

Here's just a quick AoAka fic I totally did not write in Science Class and my teacher definitely did not find me doing so. I assure you….. c':

Anyway, there are quite a bit of implications in this, so just use your imagination

It was a cold winter day. Breath turned to fog, and hands were rapidly rubbed together to generate heat. Akashi Seijurou himself stood outside in the cold, a simple, navy scarf wrapped around his neck and generous gloves on his hands. He was waiting at the bus stop, actually. No one was there but him, and he liked it that way. Solitude was bliss.

He blew a puff of air upwards to blow away the strands of hair which had fallen in front of his eyes. Much time had passed since he cut them quite roughly at the Winter Cup, and his hair length was pretty much back to normal, if not even longer then before.

Winter Cup. Oh what an exhilarating last battle it was, but it was a lie to say that Akashi expected the loss that came so abruptly. But he had always known from the bottom of his heart that Rakuzan- no, he himself- would lose. He just didn't dig deep enough, and so the thought didn't surface. Lost in his thoughts, he leaned backwards ever so slightly to half-lean on a pole. Had he changed from before? He wouldn't know, but maybe he had, winning just didn't seem so important anyway. What an unusual feeling this was.

He was forced from his thoughts as he heard footsteps approaching. His sharp ears heard the sound, and somehow... how did that sound familiar? His head snapped upwards and just as he did this, someone passed him by. And the feeling, that feeling he felt when they were mere centimeters apart, Akashi knew who this was.

But he didn't have the courage to call out to him.

The second time, the days were getting warmer. A hint of sun could be seen through a thin layer of clouds, and the air was moist with recently fallen rain.

It was a Sunday. Akashi wasn't too fond of Sundays; his father stayed home. This may or may not be the reason he was at a street basketball competition with his teammates. That's right, teammates, not pawns anymore. You could say that Akashi now tolerated them, and perhaps, if he were a different person, they would be friends. But he wasn't, and they would forever remain teammates. Then again, before he thought they would forever be just pieces on his shogi board.

He watched as the other teams played, folding his arms across his chest. Pathetic. He shouldn't have passed, he was at a perfect shooting distance. Then again, if he shot as missed the other team would catch the rebound and turn the match around. With strategies swimming in his head, he nearly missed the flash of familiar blue at the corner of his eyes. But he didn't. He stood up quickly and strode away, ignoring the call of his name from one if his teammates. If Akashi had felt this feeling before, if he knew what is was called, he would be ashamed. Akashi was scared.

And he was running away.

The third time, there was no running away anymore. A warm spring day, a light breeze with the smell of upcoming summer. A voice calling after him, footsteps.

Go away, go away.

And here he was again, running away. It was pitiful, it was foolish, but he did it anyway. Pushing past the ones which had accepted the cruel world, and god, he had never felt like this before. There was a pressure around his chest area and what was this feeling? Someone tugged on his hand and he was forced to a stop, but he didn't turn around.

"Hey, Akashi?" It was a familiar but unfamiliar voice, because there was a certain softness to it that he had never heard before, and he liked it. The boy stood up straighter, clenched his eyes shut before opening them again.

"Daiki. How have you been?" and he took a deep breath and turned around and he wished he didn't.

"Akashi? Hey, hey Akashi, talk to me. Akashi… why are you crying?"

Crying? Daiki, what are you going on about? Akashi wouldn't cry, of course not. He would not show weakness, he could not show weakness. The red-head rubbed at his eyes.

"Please excuse me, there was something in my eye" he looked up into the face of a boy he knew oh so well. His voice wasn't exactly polite, it rested precariously between a careless tone and polite.

"You've shrunk." Aomine said, with a hint of a smirk.

"I'm afraid you are incorrect." The boy replied, "You have simply grown taller." His height had always been a sensitive topic back 'then'. But things were… somewhat different now.

"And why the hell were you running away before?" Aomine asked, shifting his weight to his other leg and scratching at his head. Akashi pointed to the bus stop around 20 meters away from them.

"My bus. I missed it, if you were wondering."

Aomine looked slightly guilty, but the emotion was off his face in a second.

"Sorry." He said, but his voice didn't match his words, and Akashi still wasn't used to this. Because Aomine wasn't like this before, he changed when he 'bloomed'. But the past is the past, and his golden eye would painfully remind him.

"Don't be. I can walk back home. It's 10 minutes away."

"Why would you take the bus then?"

"I honestly do not know."

"That's a waste of money, y'know."

"Please be quiet."

"Alright."

And Akashi wanted to smile, just from having such a small and meaningless conversation with this teen, but he didn't. Instead, he took out his phone from his bag to check the time, his posture straight and polite, unlike Aomine's languid and careless one. He used to wonder how two such different people could possibly get along, but then he'd stop because it was fate.

Akashi didn't believe in potential, or raw talent, he believed in only fate.

"Hey, is that a new phone?" Aomine asked, craning his neck to see the screen. Akashi tilted his phone inwards to prevent him from doing so.

"Yes." Akashi said. "I dropped my previous one in the toilet."

Aomine was laughing, he definitely was. Probably killing himself laughing internally, that jerk. Akashi let a tiny smile slip before he pressed his lips in a slight frown.

"It is getting dark, I need to go." The red-head placed his phone back into his bag.

"I can walk you home."

"No need. I have recently started learning different forms of martial arts."

Aomine grinned. "Alright. Hey, can I get your phone number?"

"Why?" Akashi replied almost immediately after.

"I'll be good to stay in contact, right? An-"

"…. Goodbye Daiki." Akashi didn't let the other finish and walked passed the other, patting him on the back as he did so.

When Aomine turned around, a certain name on his tongue, Akashi had turned the corner and was gone.

"… Hey, Akashi. You do know I still love you, right?"

He released a sigh, but something on the floor caught his eye. He bent down to pick it up; it was a piece of paper folded neatly in half twice. He quickly unfolded it, and his face broke into a smile.

He took out his phone and put a number on speed dial.