There was endless darkness stretching out in front of him. They would come, soon enough.

He wasn't moving. He floated there in the darkness, waiting for them. He could feel them, the nightmares, so close, so near, they were hovering there, slowing clawing at his skin from the tips of his fingers before creeping up his hands like black veins with thorns, threatening to devour him.

He panicked. He tried to prise them off but the veins closed up around his arm like a vice. They slithered around his arms, his legs and then pulled him down into the darkness. He lifted his hand, crying for help but only garbled words and bubbles escaped him.

They were slowly absorbing him into despair.

There were voices anywhere, yelling and laughing, vicious and brutal. He kept hearing 'your fault! Your fault! Your fault!' He wanted to cover his ears, but no, the black veins wouldn't allow him. He was trapped there, imprisoned by the nightmares and dark memories that he couldn't ignore or shake this entire time, only buried them in the back in his mind, and now they were back, swallowing him whole and he was certain this time he wouldn't come back again.

"Kagami."

The voice cut through the others, and it was so familiar, so real, but the nightmares had closed over his head, and they kept screaming 'your fault! Your fault! Your fault!' into his ears.

"Kagami. Wake up."

The voice said again. He heard it. He knew it was the right thing to do, but no, he couldn't. He was struggling to break free. The black veins were winding around his neck, strangling him, choking him.

"Kagami. Wake up."

The black veins around his neck tightened. His mouth was open in a silent scream, and water rushed into his lungs. He couldn't breathe, he was drowning but his brain kept forcing him to breathe to accommodate the lack of oxygen which caused him to gulp another water down into his lungs. He struggled again, so hard, against the veins.

"Kagami."

He needed help. He needed to breathe or he—

"Bakagami!"

Kagami jackknifed upright, unfocused eyes wide, hand clutching at his heart, breathing raggedly. His eyes were bouncing around in panic. Everything was blurred, so bright and it was hurting his eyes and head. He'd gotta move.

Leave, leave, leave before they come back—

"Hey!" and followed with a harsh yank on his arm, pulling him back on his ass. He looked up and found Aomine staring at him.

The look startled him and for an instant, Kagami stared at Aomine, unable to make any sense of it. What was Aomine doing here? How did he get in here? Too many questions flooded into his clouded mind. "What—" his voice was raw and gritty, thick with confusion. "Ao—Aomine? What—what are you doing here?"

"First, I need you to calm down," Aomine placed another hand on his shoulder, looking straight into his eyes. "Breathe."

"N—no," he shook his head. The veins were still creeping up his body. He could feel them. He sat there, his whole body still shaking, his breath choppy and raw in his throat.

"Breathe," this time, Aomine's voice was firmer.

"I can't—"

"Breathe."

Not knowing what to do, he took a deep breath. It was hard at first with the presence of the lump in his throat, his heart pounding wildly, and panic clenching at his chest. But after inhaling a few shallow breaths, his chest felt lighter and his breathing returned to normal. The creeping veins now were gone. He took a moment to take in the place – apparently he was in his bedroom, on the bed with the blanket pooling around his waist and Aomine sitting so close to him, so near he could feel Aomine's breaths puffing on his cheeks, and shit, it was so difficult for him to recount the whole thing.

"You had a nightmare," Aomine told him. "I was going to wake you up, but I found you thrashing around in your bed. Wanna talk about it?"

Kagami opened his mouth but didn't trust his voice would work. He shook his head.

"Fine. Are you okay now?"

Another shake. Whether in denials or confusion, Kagami couldn't decide. Even though he'd escaped from the nightmares, their traces bogged down his very own thinking process.

"You sure?" Aomine asked.

Kagami shook his head again.

Silence reigned for at least fifteen minutes with Kagami staring at the bed, trying so hard to shove the traces of nightmares away from his mind, and Aomine at him.

Aomine ploughed through the silence with a suggestion. "How about a breakfast?"

At last Kagami looked up from the bed. He shot Aomine a quizzical look.

"Breakfast as in eating in the early morning to supply your energy for the whole day," Aomine supplied in a condescending tone as though he was talking to a temperamental child. Kagami would've taken offense if it wasn't because of the nightmares were still messed with his mind. "Can you stand up on your own, or do you need help with that?"

"I can—I don't… I don't know."

"Ooookay," Aomine said, letting go of his arm and sitting flat on his ass. "Breakfast in bed, that's it."

He blinked, the fear now dissipating into the back of his mind at the casual remark Aomine had given him. "Wha—what?"

"Breakfast in bed," Aomine repeated. He hauled himself out of the bed. "I ain't gonna carry you. You're heavy."

It occurred to Kagami that he'd been sleeping on the couch last night. "But I'm in my bed. So… you carried me… here?"

"Ah, glad you figured out that one. That was the stupidest decision I've ever made in my life, and I learned that in the hard way," Aomine headed to the door, rubbing the base of his spine.

"I'm not fat," Kagami frowned.

"Didn't say so."

"Heavy means fat."

Aomine raised a brow at him, pausing at the opened door. "What are you, a girl? Shall I buy you tampons and chocolates?"

That angered Kagami. "Buy me a fine knife so I can stab you with it," he gritted out.

"Murdering a police officer is a serious crime."

"Murder is a crime. But you're an asshole; an exceptional," he reasoned. "I won't get convicted for killing you."

"Geez… I guess you're right," Aomine admitted. "Probably because the serious airheaded of yours is considered as a down syndrome," his last tone raised to 'oopppsss' and with hunched shoulders and a hand over his lips, he mouthed 'so cold it burns you~'

Kagami could feel his veins snapping at the mocking gesture. "You know what?"

Aomine offered a not so innocent toothy smile, slipping half of his body behind the door.

"Fuck you."

It was followed with a pillow throwing in Aomine's direction, but it landed on the door as Aomine closed it with a howl of laughter.

Kagami waited until Aomine's laughter and footsteps disappearing into the hallway before falling back to the mattress. He stared at the ceiling wordlessly. There was a beat of silence, the sound of his breathing, hard and loud that he just realized the nightmare had taken his breath away. He threw an arm over his eyes, and behind his eyelids he could see Tatsuya's and Kenta's face.

They were screaming, yelling, and blaming him, and they echoed in his ears, blocking everything else out, suffocating him, and torturing him until he bolted upright back in the bed.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. They were coming back for him. He needed to run. Run, run, run away—

"Goddammit!"

Aomine's furious curse from the other side of the door snapped him back to reality. Kagami blinked at the closed door, somewhat he could imagine Aomine cursing at something, his brows knitted together into frown, his hand scratching his dark blue hair exasperatedly, teeth gritted together.

Kagami's gaze softened at the image he came up with. The imagination was probably wrong. Maybe Aomine was screaming at the lazy black cat that was often seen loitering on his balcony. Maybe Aomine was out of his mind and needed to curse at something to relieve the stress. Whatever the cause, Kagami was relieved that Aomine had cursed, and it reminded him that he wasn't really alone at the moment.

Then he laughed. He laughed, laughed, and laughed even though it sounded so hard and harsh.

Yep, Aomine was here. With him.

With the reminder in his mind, Kagami looked at the window. The day was fine and bright. The sunlight filtered by faint dust. Waking up to see white clouds floating by in the endless blue skies was a surprise for Kagami. He used to jolt up in the middle of night because of his nightmare then stay awake until a new day dawned, so knowing that he'd actually slept through the night (even if he did enter the nightmare) was a new thing for him.

A pleasant surprise, nonetheless. He smiled.

He wondered if Aomine's presence was the cause.

Moments later, Aomine shouted "Special delivery~"

Kagami looked away from the window to Aomine in the doorway. Aomine was carrying two mugs and bowls; one of them was larger than the other one, in the tray. He watched as Aomine carefully placed the tray on the bed, the bed dipping at the presence of the new weight, the hot puff from the bowls bringing a grimace to Aomine's face.

Kagami peered at the meal. "Ramen?" his eyes flicked in Aomine's direction with an arching brow.

"Be grateful, dumbass. It's a take-out," Aomine turned away, his eyes searching. "Now, got any low table?"

"By the closet—it's fine. I'll get it."

A hand on his shoulder pushed Kagami back to the bed. Aomine glared at him and hissed; "Stay." He climbed out of the bed to get the table and Kagami's eyes followed him while he set up the table on the bed before placing the tray on it, the larger bowl in front of Kagami.

Aomine offered him the chopstick. "Now, eat."

He stared at the large bowl. "Too… much for me," he pushed the bowl away. "I can't finish this."

"Don't lie to me. I've seen you eating. You eat like pig," Aomine pointed out, wiggling the chopstick in Kagami's face.

"I…" he placed his hand on top Aomine's hovering hand, searching for a suitable word. Aomine's hand was amazingly warm. Kagami's eyes flickered down, then open again, and Aomine met his gaze without flinching. "I don't eat. I mean, not so much anymore. Am not hungry."

Aomine brought his hand to his folded legs. His dark blue eyes were clear and steady in the bright light, studying him. "What happened?"

"I—I don't know. It just happened, I—" he took a deep breath and shrugged. "Shit happened, and Tatsuya got into accident, and my appetite just… disappeared," his tone quieted down.

Disappeared just like you.

Aomine was silent. Then shook his head. "That's not good," he said on a sigh. "That's not good. Apart from the fact that it saved your money, it's not good. We gotta fix this. Me and you," he pointed his finger to Kagami and himself back and forth. "We gotta fix this."

"No, we don't—"

"Yes, we do."

"Aomine—"

"Yes, we do," Aomine gritted out.

Kagami pressed his lips thin. It was useless to argue with Aomine when he had set up his mind. His arrogance and stubbornness would tune out any voices from entering his ears. Another Aomine's quality he didn't like but somehow he couldn't picture Aomine without it.

"Now, the first step," Aomine leaned forward to switch their bowl; Aomine got the large one, and Kagami the small one. Then he scooped out some of noodles from his current bowl into Kagami's, the soup splashing on the bed carelessly, yet it didn't stop Aomine.

"What are you doing?" he asked, incredulous.

"Dude," Aomine paused his doing. "I'm on diet. I can't finish this."

"Stupid," Kagami grinned, and it was wobbly and off centre but it felt okay on his face. It felt real, honest. "Tell me when you finally get your hourglass figure."

"Sheesh, who needs an hourglass figure when you're already an Adonis?"

"Oh gods…" he groaned, putting his face into his hands, but his smile was still there.

"Is true," Aomine smirked. "Anyway, that aside, you have to finish this, okay? No wasting food. You know what will happen to people who waste their food?"

"What?" Kagami peered into his bowl. He could finish this. He couldn't help smiling. Aomine didn't push him but he knew the right amount of pressure to push him forward to get his appetite back. Baby steps; that was what he needed at the moment.

Aomine stabbed his chopstick in Kagami's direction. "Those wasted foods are gonna hunt you down, shove a celery down your throat, make a stew out of your body with ugly, disgusting vegetables as the side dish and decoration."

Kagami barked a laugh. "Dude, that doesn't make any sense!"

"Make sense to me. I'm a carnivore. I eat meat, not vegetables," Aomine declared with a smug look. He took in the sweet smell of ramen. "Gods, 'm starving."

"Ah, that explains your dark skin," Kagami split the chopstick into two. Oh gods, that ramen looked so delicious. He could feel the warm puffs on his cheeks.

Aomine frowned. "Dude, we've had discussion about this. No more jokes about my skin. And it's got nothing to do with eating vegetables."

"But you can make fun of my eyebrows?" he questioned Aomine. "'Course it's got something to do with vegetables. Ever heard of vitamin?"

"Your brows are a special case," Aomine smirked, shoving noodles into his mouth. "Vitamin as in something poisonous?"

Kagami slurped ramen noisily. It was so good to feel the warmness in his throat as the ramen slid down into his empty stomach. "Got it wrong, Ahomine."

"Geez, who cares about vitamin? I'm a cop, not doctor. Now, eat more," Aomine threatened him with the pointing chopstick.

"Bossy." He turned away, only to look at the alarm clock on the bedside table by the bed. Its numbers read past ten. Kagami's eyes popped open wider. "Oh shit!"

"What?" Aomine asked.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Kagami turned around in panic, an alarm blaring in his mind 'late, late, late, late, late, late!' Oh, he was fucking late for work. He was two hours late. Now he has to listen his senpai yell into his ear while having his captain's stare boring into the back of his head. He scrambled to his feet but a tug on his shirt forced him back to the bed. Kagami's head snapped ahead.

"Stay," Aomine glared at him.

"But I'm late for work!"

"Don't worry about it."

"The hell you mean by that?!"

"He called you when you were sleeping, so I answered the call and I've told your captain about it. So, relax."

Kagami stared at him in disbelief. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing much. About you needing a day off."

"What?!" he swatted away Aomine's hand. His bowl tipped off dangerously on the edge of the table. "Why did you that?! I don't need a day off! I can work just fine!"

"The fact that your captain told me about your poor performance and lack of interaction with other colleagues in the phone convinces me you need a day off," Aomine said, his voice quiet. Clipped. Not sympathetic, just matter-of-fact.

"Since when you decided to get into my business?!" he snarled out. "You never cared about me before! You never care about anyone else! You only care about yourself!"

"Yes, I do care about you. You never realized it," Aomine's voice was calm, not perturbed by his outburst. "In fact, people care about you but you're blind to see it."

"Wha…?" Kagami was lost. He didn't understand what Aomine was talking about. Care? Aomine—no, people cared about him? Why should they? No one cared about him. He was a failure. He'd failed to save Kenta. He'd made Kenta's mother cry for nights, cry on the funeral. Because of his mistake, his captain had stood up against the media for him. He'd put his brother into the hospital bed, throwing Murasakibara's life into despair.

He was a complete tras—

"Stop doing that," Aomine said suddenly but Kagami couldn't look at him, head down, lost in his jumbled thoughts. "Stop doing that," Aomine repeated. "Stop thinking you're useless. I can see that from your oh not so handsome face and your weird eyebrows."

At Aomine's remark, Kagami met Aomine's eyes again. Aomine maintained his composure as if he'd talked about weather even though he actually had insulted his eyebrows and given him some important advice.

Kagami couldn't help the small grin. He covered it with his hand and a snort followed suit. The smile soothed the pain in the back of his mind, calming the screaming voices in his head. "Told you stop making fun of my eyebrows," his words were mostly gone into his hand.

"In your dream." Aomine placed the chopstick across his bowl. He leaned away from the table, his body held with deliberate care, his face serious.

Kagami swallowed thickly, knowing what might happen next, and when Aomine started to speak, he almost cringed.

"Your captain told me about you. About your lacking of interaction with your senpai. And about you shutting people out. What happened?"

Kagami wanted to answer the question, wanted to explain to Aomine what had happened, wanted to say something, but his mind had clamped his mouth shut. His tongue felt heavy, so he only managed to shake his head, his cheeks burning in shame for not able to give Aomine a proper answer.

"You don't wanna talk about it?" Aomine remained collected.

"No," he croaked out. At least he still had some dignity to reply.

Aomine sighed. "Fine, then. I'm gonna let it slide this time. You owe me an explanation, okay?"

"No, I don't," Kagami made a face.

"Yes, you do, and that's final," Aomine gave him a stern look. "And now," his eyes moved up and down. "Since your captain gives you a day off – you owe me a Teriyaki Burger for that – and told me to take care of you for one day, might as well do some shopping."

"Shopping for…" he trailed off, waiting for Aomine to continue his sentence.

"For your clothes, dumbass. Look at yourself."

Kagami swept a gaze through his own body. He was still wearing the same clothes. His brows were knitted into frown. He didn't get Aomine's point.

"You idiot. You look so ugly I could cry. Even kids have a better sense of fashion than you do," Aomine supplied.

"What the…"

Aomine snapped his fingers. "I think I wanna eat Teriyaki Burger later." Aomine pierced Kagami with a warning glare, brooking no argument. Then he rolled out of the bed and skirted around. "So up, up, up, get your fat ass moving. We're going out today to do some shopping and buy me Teriyaki Burger. Wash your not-so-handsome face and wear some decent clothes. I don't want to pair up with an ugly dude. It'll ruin my reputation."

Kagami groaned, falling to his side heavily. The bed sank and the bowls and cups clinked loudly. He was pretty darn sure some warm liquid splashed onto his bed sheet but at the moment he didn't care about it. The cups and bowls could've fallen on the floor and been broken, he wouldn't care.

He just didn't want to go anywhere.