Published: (First draft) September 14, 2012 (carabarks tumblr)

Disclaimer: I got lazy and impatient, so there's not much of a difference from the first draft. I got too lazy to clearly and properly incorporate my "prompt" (the reason for the title) into it too. I apologize about that. This hasn't been beta-read, so this is fresh off my head.

You lived in a house of cards, flimsy and prone to falling over. But that didn't matter because it is your home - will always be your home - and nothing else will ever be good enough. But you learn this the hard way and when you do, you've long since lost the keys.

:+:

Momoi once told you that once you've found what's at the end of your red string of fate, you're not to let go of the person because when you do, the string breaks, and rarely does it reconnect.

You wish you had remembered this back then, because maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't have done what you did. You tell yourself you don't regret your decision, because you renewed your love for the game and found great friends - and it's partially true, so all is well for a time.

Your new light is not skillful enough by half, but he is quickly learning and you harbor some hope that he will be able to save your old team (the infamous, Generation of Miracles) from destorying themselves, because they will not stop unless someone shows them first hand that victory is not a given and that the sport cannot be played if there is no love for it.

With that goal in mind, you trained yourself beside him, honed your skills to match his, and thrived to better because it is no secret that you alone could not even hope to have the skills the Generation of Miracles had. All the hard work, determination, and persistence made you forget (and maybe that was what you were hoping for from the start), so much so that you're almost fooled to a sense of contentment.

That is, until one day, when it's too hot for anything else that you decide to refresh yourself with a good drink of your favorite vanilla milk shake and you caught sight of an unmistakable tan skin in the convenience store you regular. You watch Aomine through the clear glass window, frozen on your spot across the street as the sight of him triggers a plethora of memories - the ones you labored to suppress- comes to surface and you feel your face contort and your chest threaten to explode.

There is the boy whose charming grins and carefree laughter on court seduced you to play the game in the first place. There is the boy who was the first to see you, the one who has never been blind to your presence after that first meeting; who befriended you and played with you even after he saw how awful you played the game and even trained you (though he did try to disguise it as his own training) just because he saw your determination and saw you for what you were worth. It was he who brought you before Akashi Seijuro's eyes, and it is thanks to him that you moved up from third string to first - and not just a first string played but a regular too, making an astonishing and almost unheard of leap to the top.

It's the same boy - same tan skin and blue hair - but you saw bits and pieces of a frightening stranger in him as well. The Aomine you knew and loved did not look like he hated the world, and the smiles that made never ceased to make your face flush and your heart beat faster were gone and only their ghosts haunt his face now. You tell yourself they've been gone long before and it wasn't your fault because you didn't think you could stand knowing you've created this abomination.

The Aomine you knew also wouldn't be buying vanilla milk shake because he hated the flavor, preferring chocolate over it (Kise used to say "The only flavor for him is him," to which Midorima would groan, "How tacky can you get?!").

Your first thought is that he's buying it for someone else, perhaps maybe his new shadow or his new best-friend-that-isn't-Satsuki (because, according to him, she was a girl, so she didn't count) and you are almost overcome with a feeling of possessiveness and jealousy that, before you knew it, you've already taken three steps forward. You laugh a hollow bitter laugh at what a pathetic hypocrite you've become because deep down, while you secretly wished to see him hurt from seeing you with another person, you couldn't bear for him to have anyone else but you.

You're sent back to your first high school game together, and despite all the memories you had with him during middle school where you both discussed the possibilities and dreams, and all the things you'd do when you enter Touou together, you are on opposite teams, fighting for different schools and different goals.

You kept yourself level headed - detached - because you feared you wouldn't be able to manage playing against him. You feared the nostalgia would break you down and you might fall into the delusion (or fantasy?) that the two of you are back in middle school, and he's the ace you'd make shine.

The looks he sends you made you fear for you sanity as well. The accusation was so evident in his eyes that you could almost hear him say, "How could you?"

During the break, however, he starts to give you cold looks. Looks that mocked Seirin's inferiority. "You replaced me with that?" they say. So you mustered up your dignity and spoke to him as if what he was saying didn't matter; as if he didn't matter. He isn't special, you told yourself, so treat him like everyone else and then maybe, just maybe, you can get your head in the game and out of the past.

You couldn't have said you were surprised by the outcome of the game. Seirin had improved, but not enough to beat the ace of the Generation of Miracles. The depressed looks and utter disappointment on everyone's faces hurt, especially when Kagami believed it to be his fault, because you knew for a fact that if someone had to be blamed for the loss, it should be you. You were the one who let past feelings and conflicting emotions cloud your game play, and you've only got to thank your talent for masking your face that no one else noticed how off you were.

:+:

He is broken, and there is no one to put the pieces back together. And it hurts you so much to see him vulnerably and so destroyed, but you can't do anything about it because you've cut off your bonds and he would rather die than have you - you who left him without a word - put him back together again because Aomine Daiki had the world's biggest pride.

A/N: I know, it's short. :( School's been taking up my time and I lost interest in this. It's inexcusable, I know. Maybe someday I'd feel bored and I'd find the urge to rewrite this. :) For now, I can only profusely apologize for those of you who expected better.