Standing STILL

Don't Leave Me

Standing STILL

"Come on, come on! Pick up you bastard!"

The phone rang twice more before going to voice mail once again.

"Damn it!" Kagami stopped running. Putting his hands on his knees he tried to suck more oxygen into his lungs, he was completely out of breath and his chest stung with every inhale. He was sweating despite the cold weather and his breath came out in little clouds of white as he panted. "Shit!" He swore again. Where are you?

Everything was going fine that day until about an hour ago.

The redhead had the shared apartment all to himself today because his boyfriend was being forced to go to a game that was being held at his school. Even though Aomine said he wasn't going to play, the coach was still making him show up regardless.

Kagami was enjoying his night of just laying around until he looked at the clock and realized that it was pretty late and the Tou player hadn't made it home yet. He pushed off his feeling of unease, thinking that the team had probably just gone out to eat and were talking or something, and he went back to watching tv. Slowly the night dragged on and as more time passed, he started to get worried. And that's when his phone rang.

"Hello?" He quickly answered, hoping it was Aomine.

"Kagami-kun?"

"Oh, hello Momoi, what's up?"

"Kagami-kun! Is Aomine with you?"

"Uh, no. He hasn't come back yet. Is something wrong?" She sounded frantic and distressed, like she was on the verge of tears.

"Eh!? He isn't there!? Oh no! I knew I should have walked home with him! This is all my fault!" She yelled.

Kagami quickly stood up from the couch and swallowed. He had a bad feeling.

"Momoi, please calm down. Tell me what happened."

She then went on to hurriedly explain that their game was going well, everyone showed up in high spirits, save Aomine who looked bored, and it looked like it was going to be a pretty fair game. But then near the end of the 2nd quarter the coach decided to put Aomine in even though he asked him not to. The bluenette started to argue, saying that they had made a deal where he would only play in games against extremely hard opponents like the previous members of the GoM, but the coach demanded he go in because he wanted an assured victory. After fighting some more the street player grudgingly agreed, and that's when it happened...Again.

Oh no.

"Momoi, what was the final score?"

"28....to 132."

Shit.

Normally most teams would kill to get a score like that, but when it came to Tou, it only meant pain for their team's ace player. Kagami didn't know much about the dark time Aomine went through when he was still in Teiko, he didn't like to talk about it so Kagami never asked, but awhile back Kuroko did tell the redhead some things. He told him how everyone lost their will to fight against him, how they called him a beast, a monster, and how he became an outcast from the very thing he loved the most.

How do you stand up to a challenge if everyone has defeat in their eyes? How can you enjoy something when those around you are surrounded by misery and fear? His smile vanished, and Aomine began to change.

A light consumed by shadow and hate.

Kagami couldn't imagine how that must have felt, or what the pain must have done to him mentally, so when he heard this, he became incredibly worried.

"After the game he started acting strange and quiet, and when we were about to leave I offered to walk home with him but he told me he would be fine! I was still really worried about him when I got home though so I tried calling him, but no matter how many times I would call he wouldn't pick up! So I called you but you said he's not with you and now I don't know where he is or what to do!"

Kagami could tell she was panicking, but he was shocked himself so he wasn't sure what to say.

"I'm scared Kagami, I'm really scared." Her voice broke and she started to cry.

And that finally Kagami snapped into action.

"It's going to be okay Momoi. Just take a deep breath and try to calm down. He wouldn't hurt himself and he's not the type to skip town, so he's probably somewhere close. I'm going to go out and start looking for him right now."

Over the phone he could hear her take a breath and slowly exhale. She seemed to take comfort in his words and calmed down a little.

"Okay, thank you Kagami-kun. Please let me know if you find him!" Her and Aomine had been close friends since they were little, so he knew she must be worried sick. Hell, he was freaking out too. All he wanted was to find him, and fast.

"Don't worry, I will. I promise."

And with that he grabbed his coat and ran out the door.