Can I Help You?
In which Aomine Daiki gets thrown into an alternate reality where Kuroko Tetsuya does not attend Teikou Middle School. AoKuro; KagaKuroOgi being bros.
Inspired by this comic yefione. tumblr post/31260869806/i-saw-a-dream-like-this-aokuro
For the first time in his entire life, silence was the loudest thing that rang within Aomine Daiki's ears.
It was reverberating within his skull, silent guilt and remorse creeping his entire body slowly, steadily, like some sort of terminal illness as azure blue orbs stared right to his own navy. Grief, fear, hurt, pain, disappointment all melted into a pool of azure that normally reflected nothing at everything at the same time. Tetsu was silent as the sound of the basketball dropping onto the floor echoed throughout the gym and broke their silence.
For a split second, he could swear seeing a pool of tears starting to form on the corner of Tetsu's eyes. But the younger boy said nothing, his lips still slightly parted from shock as he tried processing the words Aomine just said to him.
The entire Teikou first string watched their exchange with wary and pity, the former obviously for him and the latter for Tetsu. They were best friends, Aomine heard a murmur. Kuroko treasured his and Aomine's friendship more than anything, another chimed. Turns out he means nothing to Aomine, another added. Poor Kuroko-kun.
Aomine's gaze did not falter as the ringing sound on his ears ceased to be. He watched as Tetsu silently closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Blank azure orbs met once more with navy, reflecting absolutely nothing as he bowed a little towards Aomine. "I see," pale lips uttered, trembling ever so slightly. "I apologize if you think that I am a burden, Aomine-kun." The tanned teen shivered slightly at the icy cold tone Tetsu used to call his name. It used to be warm and lingering with unsaid affection. "I assure you that it will not happen again. Please excuse me."
And then Tetsu left, his steps a little unsteady yet firm and lack hesitation. As he stepped towards the shadowed part of the gym, Aomine could swear that Tetsu was melting with the darkness as soon as he entered the darkness. Aomine stood still, unable to move from his position. He could feel the Teikou Middle's uniform growing heavier by the minute he wore them instead of the practice gear. He wondered if it was just his guilt trying to cope with the overload of information Tetsu just gave him.
I assure you that it will not happen again. What won't? Their partnership? Their friendship? The unsound confession that they loved each other? Which one of it won't happen again?!
"Dai-chan you idiot!" He was jolted out of his stupor as Satsuki threw a clipboard to his chin. She was crying, tears leaking from her face as she stared at Aomine with apparent frustration and disappointment. "See if I care anymore!" And then she ran away from the court, in the opposite direction of the locker room Tetsu had disappeared to. Aomine then looked around, where people started to shift around and returned to their previous activity.
Midorima was the only person of the Generation of Miracles who saw the entire thing, but he spared Aomine nothing but a glance. He kept on shooting those basket like nothing else mattered, like he had blocked everything away except for the ball and the basket. Kise was nowhere to be found, along with Murasakibara and Akashi. And Tetsu never returned either.
Aomine stood, his head retreating back to its small space as he tried to process just what the hell was going on with his life. So he had told Tetsu that he was a burden, that now everyone had awakened, his basketball was no longer needed. But so what? Tetsu always knew that Aomine was just blowing fuse. He understood him better than anyone, after all. But, but...
Passes? To whom? He could hear his own voice echoing back to his ears. To me? To Kise? I... I don't even remember how to receive your passes anymore.
And then he could see something within Tetsu crack.
Aomine's eyes widened, now realizing the severity of what he had done. Tetsu worked extremely hard for those passes of his. All for the sake of being useful to Akashi, all for the sake of standing on the same court as him. And he trampled all over his hard work like it was nothing. He had dismissed Tetsu's love of basketball in such a cruel way. No wonder Satsuki got mad at him and threw a clipboard to his chin. What the fuck was going on with him?!
He ran to the locker room, trying to find his shadow. But the moment he opened the door, the air around him shifted and turned heavier and heavier by the second. His vision was started to blur as dark spots filled whatever else he could see and turned him into darkness.
He could hear a sound of faint sobbing, like someone was crying until their voice was hoarse. He could hear a sound of sweet nothings being murmured to comfort the sobs, he could hear a familiar voice whispering weakly to the world around him.
I wish I have never met him.
And the world began to spun on his heels and eventually faded to black.
The next morning, Aomine woke up with a lazy groan.
And a certain soreness around his shoulder and thighs too, he must have practiced hard yesterday. Wait- what? He never practiced anymore. How come he felt so tired...?
"Daikiiiii! Wake up! Satsuki-chan is here to pick you up for morning practice!"
Aomine narrowed his eyes. Satsuki stopped doing that the moment he never showed up for practice anymore. So... how come-
After a reflexive move to check his clock, Aomine almost dropped the contraption onto the floor. He was back. Back to before he managed to win his second championship, the very time before the head coach collapsed and everything went downhill. Had he... had he gone back in time?!
"Dai-chan hurry!" Satsuki's shrill call got him out of the bed and dressed himself in his uniform. He packed all the things he needed and went downstairs to greet his annoying childhood friend-slash-mom. She rattled about how they would lose just because their ace slacked off in training just before their second championship match. And for once, Aomine listened to her.
The tanned teen then said a passing 'hah? Haven't we won that already?' only to be countered by a confused-looking Satsuki scolding him for saying stupid things. "What are you talking about, Dai-chan- I mean, Aomine-kun? The next Inter-Middle will start like two weeks from now, remember? Aren't you paying attention that what Akashi-kun said yesterday?"
But Akashi wasn't even in practice yesterday! How was he supposed to listen to him?!
"Anyways, I should be going now. Acchan and Micchan are waiting for me. Go change to your practice gear, okay? Ki-chan should already be in the court so you guys can go one on one before practice starts." And then she left him alone in the locker room.
Aomine placed his bag on his locker, the thing hadn't been emptied like he thought it had. Well, unless this was really the past and not an elaborate joke made with his mom and Satsuki, this locker wouldn't have been cleaned up since he still used them to store his ball and gravure magazines.
He changed into his practice gear, a simple black shirt and a white shorts. That's odd. If this was really the past, then Tetsu should be here already. That guy always come early in morning practice, after all. Maybe he was already in court, helping Kise with whatever he needed helping. Or being ogled at like some sort of a puppy master. Maybe.
Suddenly, his head throbbed. Tetsu. God, Tetsu. He had to apologize to him! He had done something so utterly and motherfucking stupid like saying that his basketball wasn't needed. He ran towards the court and found Kise dribbling a basketball all by himself.
"Oi Kise!" He shouted impatiently. "Aominecchi! It's rare to see you come so early for morning practice! C'mon let's have one on-!"
"Where's Tetsu?!"
There was a silence, an extremely heavy one for Aomine and yet a moment of confusion for the dimwitted blond. "Tetsu...? Who's that?"
What...?
"Hmm is there anyone in our team named 'Tetsu'? I don't think there's anyone." Kise pondered to himself, but Aomine launched himself at the Small Forward and yanked him by his collar. "Don't fucking kidding me, Kise! How come you don't know Tetsu?! Aren't you the one who always goes 'Kurokocchi! Kurokocchi!' at him?!"
Kise's eyes widened in sheer shock as Aomine glared at him, but he still showed no recognition in his eyes. "W-waaah! I'm sorry, Aominecchi! But I really don't know any Tetsu or Kurokocchi-ssu!" He whimpered out, fear lacing each and every word that came out of his mouth. Aomine clicked his tongue and pushed Kise away from him.
Aomine ran and ran, trying to find the phantom sixth man of Teikou. He ran to the library, and bumped onto Midorima. "Oi Midorima! Is Tetsu here for some library committee shit?"
"Tetsu? Who is that?"
"Kuroko Tetsuya! Dammit are you kidding me too?!"
Midorima shook his head and straightened his glasses with his free hand. He spared a glance to the light blue-colored piyo on his right hand before glancing back to Aomine. "There's no one named Kuroko Tetsuya in the library committee-nodayo."
Aomine ran.
And everywhere he ran, it was always the same. He couldn't seem to find Tetsu, and he couldn't seem to find anyone who knew him.
"Kuro-chin? What's that? Sounds delicious~ is it a candy?" Murasakibara.
"Tetsu-kun? Who's that? I've never met anyone named Tetsu-kun." Satsuki.
"There is no student by the name Kuroko Tetsuya in Teikou Middle School, Aomine. I should now, after all, I'm the Student Council President." Akashi.
But, but, that's impossible! The second championship was the happiest time he had shared with Tetsu! The days they would stop at the convenience store to eat ice cream, the day they would go to Majiba just to buy Tetsu's milkshakes, the days they admitted that they loved one another even without any words or sound. Those were the happiest day of his life!
Aomine then ran to the convenience store near their school, and eventually scoured the town until sundown. His last stop had been Majiba, where no light blue hair or azure eyes to be spotted. He held his knees with both hands as he panted. Where- where was...!
And suddenly, he saw it.
A light blue hair on top of a pale-skinned face and azure eyes. His eyes widened as the shorter teen walked passed him, seemingly not noticing Aomine's presence. The ace of Teikou Middle immediately ran to him and grabbed his shoulder. "Tetsu!" He called out, relief, anger, apology, and irritation rolling within his voice as he forced the pale boy to look at his direction.
The blue-haired teen stopped on his tracks and looked at Aomine. He tugged at his companion's sleeve and the three of them were stopped in the middle of the road. "What is it now, Tetsuya? You know how irritating Shige gets when he-"
"Taiga-kun."
Tetsu's voice was stern as he called on his companion to look at Aomine as well. "What...? Tetsu...? Why are you wearing...?" Aomine tiredly whispered as he took in the black gakuran Tetsu was wearing. He wasn't wearing their usual white and blue uniform. He was wearing a black gakuran with white undershirt instead. Why...? Why...?!
"Can I help you?" He asked, expressionless face on place as he offered a sincere question. Just like... it was as if...
"Tetsuya, you know this guy?" The redheaded companion of Tetsu asked, his red eyes peering at Aomine with confusion and curiosity. Tetsu shook his head. "No, not at all. But you look familiar. May I ask who you are?"
Color drained from Aomine's face as he saw no recognition whatsoever on Tetsu's blank azure orbs. His hands were trembling and his head was throbbing. His ears began to rang with words repeated over and over again.
I wish I have never met him.
It was as if Aomine Daiki was a stranger in Kuroko Tetsuya's life.
His heart wrenched.
Sorry for a new lousy story guys... *kills self*