Restart (Aokuro)

Floating Questions

AOMINE COULDN'T SLEEP THAT NIGHT. He believed it had something to do with what he said to Kuroko, and he felt extremely bad for hurting his feelings. But what Aomine didn't understand was why Kuroko got hurt. If he didn't like him back, there shouldn't be any problem if Aomine took back his words – lying to Kuroko about his true feelings.

But what were his true feelings?

Aomine didn't understand any of it. He never felt this way before so he wasn't sure if he actually liked his teammate or if it was just another silly crush. His mind was filled with Kuroko – why this and why that – that he didn't realise the lights had turned red. Without noticing a white van approaching fast, his right foot stepped forward.

"Aomine-kun!"

Kuroko's loud yet soft voice instantly brought him back to reality. He felt himself falling backwards, crashing into Kuroko. Fortunately, Kuroko had noticed that Aomine was barely paying attention to his surroundings, and he managed to grab his sweater, pulling him away from the road.

"What the -" Aomine gasped. "Ouch!"

"Ow..." Kuroko groaned painfully. Aomine's eyes widened before he quickly got up, which was a bad idea because now his visions were black. He stumbled a little bit before regaining his balance.

"Kuroko?" He gaped. The pale boy, who was still on the ground, glanced up and their eyes met. Aomine felt his heart thump a beat. If his feelings for Kuroko were real, maybe his eyes were one of the reasons why. He blinked a few times before extending a hand, which Kuroko took hesitantly.

"Thank you," Aomine sheepishly said. "I could've died."

Kuroko smiled. "Yes, you could've."

The two boys walked to school together that morning, but none of them exchanged words after that. Aomine couldn't help but feel the awkward tension, and wondered if Kuroko was feeling the same thing. Either way, he didn't like that.

Kuroko immediately left for his classroom the moment they arrived school, before the taller boy could say anything.

"See you later, I guess." He mumbled to himself. Aomine sighed before heading to his classroom.

When it was break time, Aomine thought of heading to Kuroko's classroom to look for him, maybe do a little basketball practice together. But the familiar pink-haired beauty walked into Aomine's classroom before he could go anywhere. He groaned at the sight of her, knowing what his childhood friend wanted. He quickly buried his head in his arms.

"Oi, Dai-chan," Momoi pouted, poking Aomine's head with her petite finger. "We're supposed to have lunch together."

"No, I don't remember saying that." The tanned boy lied. He wanted to see Kuroko.

"Come on. It's been a while!"

"Tch," Knowing she wouldn't stop bugging him, Aomine gave up. "Fine. You're paying."

The day ended with Aomine looking for Kuroko at his classroom, but he was nowhere to be found. Murasakibara came out just in time but was unaware of Aomine's presence. He was too busy searching for a list of snacks on his phone. Aomine followed him and called him out.

"Hey, Murasakibara. Where's Kuroko?"

"Eh?" The taller boy among the two sounded without looking up, which was dangerous, Aomine thought. "I don't know. He left before me."

Thinking Kuroko should be at the gym, practising all alone made Aomine excited for some reason. He always looked forward to playing basketball with him, no matter how bad he was. Kuroko was a great companion and he was glad they met. Aomine started making his way to the gym without wasting any time.

But to no luck, Kuroko was not at the gym either. Aomine panted a little, after all he just used up most of his energy to come here, which was a waste.

"Ah, shit," Aomine cursed. "Where is this kid?"

He hasn't seen Kuroko since this morning, and suddenly a realisation dawned upon him.

Was Kuroko avoiding him?

No, it can't be.

But why?

"What are you doing here?" Murasakibara appeared out of nowhere, surprised to see Aomine outside the gym when there wasn't any practice today. Did he forget?

"I thought Kuroko would be here." Aomine answered with a disappointed tone.

Aomine decided to head back home, but the disappointment was so strong that he couldn't stop himself from texting Kuroko. Before hitting the send button, he heard the sound of ball bouncing. He turned his head and realised a basketball court next to him, and there all alone was Kuroko doing a layup. Aomine also noticed the scenery around him, how quiet and peaceful it was. He didn't know if he should greet Kuroko as he didn't want to ruin the atmosphere.

"Aomine-kun?"

Aomine blinked and his eyes met Kuroko's. Kuroko has been stuck in his head the whole day, but now that he's in front of him, Aomine found himself stuck to the ground. For some reason, he felt bad and nervous. He was speechless again.

"You're just gonna stand there?" Kuroko asked again. "I was just about to leave."

The last word in his sentence was good enough to snap Aomine. He approached the smaller boy, stomping his feet to the hard ground. His hands found their way to Kuroko's shoulders and he squeezed them tightly.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"What?" Kuroko's voice was small, but it didn't hide the surprised expression plastered on his pale face.

"I've been looking for you," Aomine admitted. "And you seem to disappear all the time. You're avoiding me, aren't you?"

"It's not like that."

"Then why?" Frustration was clear in Aomine's voice now. Another thing he didn't understand was why. He didn't know what was making him so upset and frustrated. He didn't have the answers to so many questions that were piling up in his mind.

"I don't know!" Kuroko's outburst shocked them both. "I'm sorry, but I don't know."

Aomine realised he was squeezing Kuroko too hard, so he immediately let him go. Kuroko's head was bowed down so he was unable to read the smaller boy's expression. Judging by his tone, Aomine guessed he was frustrated as well, which confused him even more. Did the incident yesterday caused Kuroko to become distant?

"If I did something wrong, I'm sorry." Aomine apologised anyway without knowing what his fault was, but the last thing he wanted was for Kuroko to stay upset with him.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong, Aomine-kun, " Kuroko sighed. "If anyone's at fault, it's me."

"What do you mean?" Aomine frowned.

"I apologise, but I think I have feelings for you."

°°°

A/N I had to rewatch some KNB episodes and one shots to refresh my memory so I could write better (which brings back a lot of memories) and now whenever I listen to Aomine, I hear Sukuna :')