"What- fuck."

"Aho!" Kagami claps his hands in an exaggerated fashion over the kid's ears. "There is a child." In any other situation, hearing his roommate get so offended over him cursing around a kid would be pretty damn hilarious. However, right now it is not funny because Aomine just got home from a long-ass day at work to find a small child in his kitchen and he just died a little inside. "Bakagami, what the actual fuck. Who the fuck does that belong to."

"Wow."

"Stopping bein' a douche and explain."

The kid can't be any older than maybe six, but he'd be on the small side for a six year old, probably. Shit, he doesn't know. He doesn't know what a fucking six year old would look like, damn. Anyways, the kid is around five or six and he's sitting on one of the barstools by their kitchen counter, looking like he belongs there or something. He looks like a fucking nerd kid too. Sweater vest, short-sleeved white dress shirt, uncomfortable looking brown shorts, white socks pulled all the way up, and shiny brown dress shoes? Definitely a fucking nerd kid. Aomine would know. He used to beat up nerd kids.

Kagami makes a face at him- a I hope you're fucking happy, asshole face- and lets his hands drop from the kid's ears. "Seijuurou, do you want to go watch some TV?" The kid looks up at Kagami for a moment, as if waiting for him to retract the offer, before sliding off the barstool and marching to the living room, all prim and proper and perfect posture. Definitely a fucking nerd kid.

Once the boy is out of ear shot, Kagami shoots him the dirtiest look he's ever gotten. "Did you have to be a complete asshole?"

"Yep." Aomine says simply as he takes the kid's vacated seat. He pulls his hat off and drops it on the kitchen counter, running his fingers over his hair. His roommate shifts uncomfortably. "I was about to call you to warn you." He offers.

"I'm sure."

"Aho, I totally was!"

"Shut up with your whining and explain yourself, Baka!"

Kagami leans back from where he'd been leaning closer and closer as he got angrier. Aomine leans back on his stool because of the same thing. If there's one thing the two roommates have in common (and there are many), it's that they go from 0 to 100 in a second. Quick to anger, slow to cool down.

The redhead leans against the counter and lets out a sigh before starting to recount his tale. "Well, we got a call around 8 in the morning about a fire in one of those real fancy neighborhoods with the huge mansions. The person who called in was really calm about the whole thing, so we didn't realize that it was so fuckin' bad already until the truck pulled up to the curb and we saw the whole damn thing was up in flames. There were a bunch of neighbors and servants who worked in the house out front; a few more servants were stumbling out covered in soot and coughing. Lucky they hadn't died from smoke inhalation since they were walking completely upright.

"Anyways, some of the other guys were hooking up the hose- we were told to just focus on containing the fire and stopping it from spreading, Hyuuga didn't want to risk any of us going in for nothing- when one of the servants ran up to me. She was completely fuckin' hysterical, sobbing about the young master being stuck inside or some shit. Took me a while to realize she meant the kid of the house was stuck in his room. Apparently, his parents locked him inside his room every night 'cause he has this sleep walking thing, so he couldn't have gotten out even if he tried.

"Hyuuga and I had to fuckin' find someone else to tell us where his room was 'cause she was so shook up. One of the butlers managed to give us good enough directions and it looked like his room hadn't caught on fire yet, so we busted through the kitchen window 'cause the kitchen was directly under his room and we took the servants' stair case up to the second floor. The hallway was a complete wreck- there was debris everywhere and the smoke was so thick you could barely see a thing. Hyuuga and me managed to break down the door to the kid's room after a few kicks. We didn't see him at first since he was hiding in a corner, but when Hyuuga noticed him, I picked him up and we got the hell out of dodge. Hyuuga got a real hard hit on the shoulder by some wood falling from the ceiling on our way out. Knocked it right out of the socket.

"The other guys eventually managed to put the fire out after a while. The EMTs got there and Takao- ya know, Midorima's husband- looked the kid over, but he seemed to be fine. Around noon some guys finally got into his parents' bedroom, and they'd died pretty quick. The best guess was they suffocated 'cause of the smoke and then got burned up after they were already dead.

"We tried to leave the kid with one of the servants, but all of them had some excuse or wanted to go see their family or whatever, and Hyuuga called the social worker office- whatever the fuck you call it-, but since it's the weekend they didn't have anyone they could send out to collect the kid. Then, we drew straws, and I ended up with the kid."

"You drew fucking straws?"

"What else did you want us to do? Flip a coin?"

"Why don't you keep him at the station? Or leave him on someone's doorstep? Or dump him at an orphanage? Or even leave him in a random park? You didn't have to bring him home."

"Sorry, Satan, I didn't feel like leaving a six-year-old kid to get fucking murdered in the park."

"Just shut the fuck up." Aomine grumbles as he drops his head on the counter, groaning like a little kid who didn't get his way. Kagami makes a noise of displeasure. "Go take a shower. You smell like shit."

"Fuck you."

"Just stating the obvious. And tone down on the cursing."

"You've been cursing this whole time?"

"Just around you, dumbass. I don't need to worry about corrupting your perverted fucking ears."

"Whatever. Make food while I shower." Aomine pushes himself up and makes towards the hallway. His muscles ache real bad from tackling a would-be thief earlier. Why is everything so painful? I just want to sleep. And eat. And look at Mai-chan's boobs. And play basketball. Is that too much to ask? The tall man pauses when he passes by the living room to peer in at the kid. He seems mesmerized by the cartoon he's watching; all Aomine can tell is that it's brightly colored and that there's a bad-ass looking curvy character with a square afro. His eyes settle on the kid, and he annoyingly feels a little bit of pity for him. His parents were burned to a crisp that morning and all. A pretty shitty day all in all, he guesses.

A few more seconds of silent observing pass before Aomine continues down the hallway to the bathroom. He shuts the door carelessly behind him as he strips out of his police uniform. There are a few stray bruises on his chest, but otherwise he's completely unharmed for once. No bullet holes, no knife wounds. It's a nice change of pace. Since he's only been an officer for- what- four, five years now, he's still stuck patrolling the shittiest neighborhoods and being sent out for the most dangerous calls. Sometimes he's grateful for it- a boring desk job would suck-, but other times he wishes he could get a cushy assignment with minimal chasing and low chances of being killed.

The shower makes an uncomfortable sputtering sound for a few seconds before it starts shooting out a steady stream of hot water. Aomine makes sure to turn it up so that there's steam coming rising from the water; he can't handle a shower with water any cooler than scalding. Even if he's burning up and sweaty, he'd rather burn in hell than take a cold shower. Literally. Burning in hell would be a nicer, more welcome option.

Aomine uses Kagami's body wash and his shampoo because he ran out a month ago and has yet to pick up more of his own. It's weird as fuck to use Kagami's, not 'cause he feels weird about sharing that kind of thing, but because Kagami's stuff doesn't smell like anything but soap while Aomine's usual brands smell like the woods and musk and manliness. It's a weird change in scent.

"Shit, fuck me, god DAMN it." A few more choice curses slip out as he tries to wash the shampoo out of his eyes. Every fucking time he gets shampoo in his eyes- every FUCKING time. His eyes burn and the water is starting to feel too hot and he smells significantly better, so he hops out of the shower and feels for his towel blindly

When he opens his eyes after wrapping the towel around his waist, Aomine's gaze rests on a very embarrassed looking kid hovering in the doorway, doing that shuffling feet thing that means he has to pee.

"Sorry-"

"Just piss and get out." Aomine cuts him off. The boy nods slightly and walks to the toilet, turning his back to Aomine so he can relieve himself. Aomine turns away from the kid, towards the mirror, and starts brushing his teeth calmly. God fucking damn it, Kagami better not kill me for flashing this little fucking freak, that was not my fault, I never lock the fucking door, it was a timing thing, he would have pissed his pants or something- There's the sound of paints zipping and the toilet flushing. The little boy sidles over to the sink to stand beside Aomine. The man takes a step back, calmly continuing to brush his teeth with one hand and hold his towel shut with the other, and the boy slides in front of him to wash his hands. Damn, he's small isn't he. Aomine looks down at the kid curiously. He's never really liked kids, but he's never really hated them, either. And this one doesn't seem too high maintenance. Aomine can probably survive having him around 'til Monday.

Probably.

The boy finishes washing his hands and pads out of the bathroom, his bare feet making a squelching noise on the bathroom tile.

Aomine spits the excess toothpaste into the sink and drops his toothbrush in the glass jar they use as a toothbrush holder. Indifferently, he realizes that he just used Kagami's toothbrush. Oh well. His roommate probably has a pretty clean mouth.

"Put a fucking shirt on. Dinner's ready." Kagami pipes up as he suddenly appears in the doorway. Wow, Aomine is tired; he's not noticing a damn thing.

"That kid needs to be gone by Monday."

"…Yeah. I know."

"Good."