Every time Aomine got drunk he ended up calling Kuroko in the middle of the night. Kuroko wasn't quite sure why he kept answering. Maybe to make sure Aomine wasn't doing anything stupid that could get him hurt? Maybe he just couldn't resist answering because it was Aomine, even if Aomine didn't remember calling him later. Or maybe he did. Kuroko wasn't sure. Aomine never mentioned it to him if he did. Then again, they weren't really talking when this trend had started.
The first time it happened Kuroko wasn't even asleep. Every time he closed his eyes he either saw Aomine at the river telling him that he didn't need him anymore, or he saw Akashi with gold and crimson eyes telling him that he was Akashi Seijuro while seeming nothing like the Akashi Seijuro that Kuroko had come to know.
He was surprised when he heard his phone vibrating on his nightstand. More so when he saw the name on the screen. He glanced at the time and saw that it was nearly three in the morning. He figured Aomine wouldn't call him if it weren't an emergency, so he answered.
"Tetsu~ I didn't think you'd be awake. Guess we're both having shit nights, huh?"
Kuroko frowned. Aomine didn't sound like himself. "Aomine-kun, are you drunk?" He asked cautiously.
"Very. There's also a chick here, and I don't know who the hell she is. She's got huge tits though. Bigger than Satsuki's. Can you believe that?" He asked with a laugh.
Kuroko did not want to hear about that, especially not from Aomine. However, he couldn't help being worried. "Do you know where you are? You said you didn't know who she was."
"You sound so concerned, Tetsu. You shouldn't be. I was an asshole to you today. Like, fuck, I think I would have punched me in the face if I were you. Wait, could I reach my face if I were you? I don't know why you answered my call actually."
"Aomine-kun, where are you?" Kuroko asked, ignoring what his former best friend was saying.
There was a long pause as Aomine seemed to search his alcohol idled mind for an answer. "Some high school party. It was only a few blocks away from my house, and I didn't want to think."
"I'll be over there as soon as I can. Promise me you'll stay where you are and that you won't drink anymore?"
"Promise!" Aomine assured loudly before getting quite again. "Wait, no yelling. She's still asleep. Tetsu, are you almost here?"
Kuroko sighed. "No, Aomine-kun. I should be there in about half an hour." He said, pulling on a pair of jeans. He knew how to get to Aomine's house, and he figured the party would be hard to miss. He'd go there, get Aomine home, and then go back to his own house.
"Will you stay on the phone with me until you get here?" Aomine asked.
Most of the walk towards Aomine's house was filled with Aomine's rambling about different things, interrupted constantly by his apologies to Kuroko for what had happened that day.
"Are you here?" Aomine asked when Kuroko stepped into the house that had cars surrounding it and lots of light and music loud enough Kuroko was amazed that no one had called the police. He figured Aomine could hear the music coming from Kuroko's end of the phone.
"Yes. I don't suppose you know where in the house you are?"
Aomine didn't. So, Kuroko went from room to room. He walked in on quite a few things he wished he hadn't seen before he found Aomine and a girl in a closet. Both still wearing their clothes at least. "Tetsu!" Aomine jumped up and hugged Kuroko, nearly knocking him over, when Kuroko opened the door.
Kuroko closed the closet door so that no one would bother the sleeping girl. "Come on. Let's get you home." Kuroko wrapped an arm around Aomine to keep him steady, and started to lead him out of the house. It took quite a bit of effort and a lot of stumbling because of the height difference, but they made it to Aomine's house.
"My window should still be unlocked." Aomine told him when Kuroko looked uncertain about how to deliver Aomine home without waking up his parents.
Aomine's window was always unlocked for Kuroko, and the reverse was true. Whenever one of them couldn't sleep they went over to the other's house and snuck in through the window.
"I don't know if you should be going through a second story window like this." Kuroko told him.
"I'll be fine." He said, flashing Kuroko a smile and ruffling his hair before he started looking for handholds. He made it less than a foot off the ground before he ended up falling and landing on Kuroko, knocking the air out of the smaller boy. Aomine seemed to find this hilarious. Kuroko did not.
"We're going to have to use your front door." He just hoped that Aomine had bothered to turn off his door's alarm before he left the house.
"I don't want to get up. Tetsu is comfortable. Besides, you're going to leave once you get me to bed."
"I promise I'll stay if you'll get up." Kuroko tried, because he really did need Aomine to get off of him. He didn't want Aomine's parents to find them like this in the morning, and Kuroko was not strong enough to shove Aomine off of him.
Aomine hesitated, but did get up. He even bothered to help Kuroko back to his feet. It seemed Aomine had thought to unset the alarm. Kuroko walked Aomine up to his room, and tucked him into bed before turning to leave.
"Tetsu, you promised you'd stay." Aomine complained, looking at him like he'd just been betrayed.
Kuroko gave him a sad smile. "You won't want me here in the morning."
"That's not true. I'll always want you with me."
"Tell me that when you're sober." Kuroko replied, before closing the door to Aomine's room behind him.
He still couldn't sleep when he got back home.
The next time it happened it was after Kuroko had quit the team. He hardly spoke to Aomine in person at that point, much less over the phone. So, he certainly wasn't expecting a phone call from him that night. He'd gotten one from Kise, but that had been at a more reasonable hour, and it had only come after Kuroko had ignored his text messages asking why he was leaving and apologizing for what had happened at the game.
Kuroko couldn't say he was surprised when Aomine appeared to have been drinking. After all, why else would he be calling Kuroko in the middle of the night?
"It's not fair, Tetsu." Aomine had said before Kuroko could say anything after picking up.
"What's not fair?" Kuroko asked, leaning back in his bed and looking up at his ceiling.
"That you quit. You wouldn't let me quit before, so why do you get to quit?"
Kuroko thought about his answer to that. He wasn't sure why he considered the question, Aomine wouldn't remember his answer in the morning, but he figured he owed him an answer anyway.
"Because this team has taken everything from me. It took my love of basketball, my oldest friend, my happiness, and you. I want all of that back, but I'm not going to find any of it with the generation of miracles." Kuroko told him.
Aomine was quite for a bit and Kuroko wondered if he had passed out or put his phone down.
"I'm in love with you, Tetsu." Was not what Kuroko had been expecting to hear, but that was what came out of Aomine's mouth.
It hurt. Because Kuroko loved Aomine so much, and hearing it from Aomine when he was too intoxicated to know what he was saying didn't feel very good.
"No you aren't. It's quite on your end of the phone. Where are you?" He wanted to make sure that Aomine was safe.
"I'm at home."
"Then I should go. It's late. Please get some rest, Aomine-kun." He hung up, ignoring the streaks of wetness forming on his cheeks.
The third time it happened was the first time they had spoken since the last time Aomine had drunk dialed him. They were both in high school and Kuroko was actually sleeping this time.
"Hello?" He mumbled into the phone, eyes still closed, not even sure who he was answering the phone to.
"I met your new light today."
That woke Kuroko up pretty fast. Aomine's voice, slurred from alcohol or not, was not something he was expecting to hear until they met on a basketball court.
"He's not good enough for you." Aomine continued, not seeming bothered by the fact that Kuroko hadn't said anything yet. "It sure didn't take you long to replace me though."
"Where are you?" Kuroko didn't want to have this conversation, but he wasn't just going to hang up on Aomine. Especially when he might not be safe.
"Street ball court. Did you know I'm good at basketball even when I can't walk a straight line?"
"I'm not surprised by that. Why were you drinking anyway?"
"Because being replaced by the guy you love with someone who's not even as good as you sucks. You deserve better. Better than him and better than me, but certainly better than him." Aomine said quietly. Kuroko had to strain to hear him.
"Why is it you only love me when you've been drinking?" Kuroko asked.
"I always love you." Kuroko could just imagine the frown on Aomine's face as he said that. "But you love him now, don't you? Your new light." Aomine added bitterly.
"No. I do not love Kagami-kun. He is a good friend, but only that. I'm going to call Momoi-san to get you. We don't live as close as we used to. She'd get to you faster than me and I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Why do you still care about me?" Aomine asked before Kuroko could hang up to call Momoi.
"Because I don't have to be drunk to be in love with you."
"Tetsu . . ."
"Aomine-kun, I need to call Momoi-san. I don't want you out there any longer than you need to be. It's not safe."
He had to call twice to wake Momoi up, but she agreed to get Aomine home safely, and texted him when she found him to let him know that he was fine.
The next time Aomine called him he was not drunk. They had also talked more since the last call. Kuroko had even called him a few times for shooting lessons. Kuroko had thought they were past this when he woke up to his phone buzzing in the middle of the night and saw Aomine's name on the screen.
"Aomine-kun, why are you drinking this time?" He mumbled, blinking a few times to get used to the darkness of his room.
"What? Tetsu, I have no clue what you're talking about. I can't sleep. Want to play some ball?"
Kuroko couldn't help letting out a relieved laugh. Aomine sounded like himself, albeit a bit confused by how Kuroko had answered the phone but still like himself, and he was just calling because he wanted to hang out with Kuroko.
"I don't get it. What's funny?" Aomine asked.
"Nothing, nothing. Where are you?" Kuroko replied, unable to get the smile off his face.
"The same street ball court we practiced your shooting on."
"I'll be there in twenty minutes." He hung up and got dressed before heading out.
"Your bed head is as ridiculous as ever." Aomine said when Kuroko arrived on the court.
Kuroko reached up and touched his hair, a bit surprised to find that it was sticking up all over the place. He must have forgotten to brush it in his rush to get over here.
"Well, it is one in the morning. You did wake me up." Kuroko pointed out.
Aomine ran a hand through his short hair. "Sorry about that. I wasn't really thinking. I just couldn't sleep, I wanted to play basketball, and I wanted to see you, so I called."
"It's fine. If I minded I wouldn't have come." Kuroko assured him.
"Hey, why did you think I was drinking when you answered?" Aomine asked as he shot the ball. It went in, as Kuroko knew it would, and Kuroko went after it to try and make the next shot.
"Because you usually are when you call me in the middle of the night." Kuroko's shot missed.
"I'm sorry, what?" Aomine took the ball, and held onto it.
"You've called me drunk before. Doesn't your phone keep logs of who you've called?" Kuroko asked, tilting his head.
"What do I say to you?" Aomine asked.
"A lot of nonsense. The first time when I was on my way to get you, you spent five minutes explaining to me the difference between Akashi-kun's hair and mine." Kuroko told him.
"And that's all?" Aomine looked a bit relieved.
Kuroko hesitated before shaking his head. "No. You also told me you loved me."
"And what did you say to that?"
"It doesn't matter since you didn't mean it." Kuroko said with a shrug, looking at the ground.
He heard the ball drop and then Aomine's footsteps as the taller boy walked towards him until they were right in front of each other and Aomine was putting a finger under his chin to tilt his head up so that they were looking at each other. "What if I did? Does it matter then?"
"I told you that I love you too."
Aomine leaned down and kissed him.
After that Kuroko got plenty more calls from Aomine, although generally at more reasonable hours.