Aomine frowned when he got a call from an unknown number. He almost didn't answer, but could practically hear Tetsu reprimanding him about how it could be something important. Although, Tetsu was running a bit late from work, so he wasn't there to do that. Maybe he could ignore it then? Aomine sighed and pressed the accept button. "Hello?"

"Is this Aomine Daiki?" A female voice said as soon as he picked up.

"Yeah, who's this?" He asked lazily.

"This Asuka Tanaka; I am calling because you are listed as Kuroko Tetsuya's emergency contact. He's been in an accident." And that was when Aomine felt his heart stop for a second before going so fast he thought it was going to burst out of his chest.

"Where is he? Is he okay?" Aomine asked, his voice coming out louder than he meant for it to. He'd been lying on the couch, since it was his day off, but he was on his feet and wide awake now, looking around for his car keys and a pair of shoes.

"He's in surgery right now. The doctors are doing everything they can, but-"

"Where. Is. He?" Aomine asked again. As soon as he got the hospital name he hung up and drove there. He may have broken a few speeding laws to get there faster, but he couldn't bring himself to care. If one of his coworkers actually pulled him over for speeding, he'd explain the situation to them and they'd let him go. Everyone at the police station knew and loved Tetsu, after all. Hell, he might even get a police escort, depending on which officer it was. But no one stopped him, so he didn't have to worry about it.

They wouldn't let him in during the surgery, but he was able to get some answers on what happened to Tetsu. Apparently he'd been crossing the street and a driver hadn't noticed him. It was pretty bad apparently, and they wouldn't give him a straight answer on if Tetsu was okay or not.

He found himself pacing around the waiting room, glaring at anyone who looked like they were going to talk to him without the words 'you can go in now' or 'he will be fine' coming from their mouths.

They eventually let him in, but Tetsu was still unconscious. He looked pretty bad. He was connected to all sorts of machines and he was covered in scrapes and bruises. There seemed to be more bandages than skin showing.

"Jesus, Tetsu. You sure fucked yourself up something bad." Aomine's hand hovered over him. He wanted to touch, but he was afraid of making it worse. Tetsu looked so fragile in the hospital bed, like he would break if Aomine did the wrong thing. "I think you're supposed to talk to people. Or maybe that's something else. I don't know, I'm a cop not a doctor." Aomine ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do! I don't know how to help, and I hate sitting here and doing nothing. You'd better not fucking die on me. You'd better not."

At one point Tetsu's eyelashes fluttered and Aomine was at his side instantly. "Tetsu? Tetsu, can you hear me?" He ran to the door. "Doctor! I need a doctor! I think he's waking up!"

It was explained to him that apparently people's eyes moved in their sleep, and that Tetsu was not waking up. He felt his stomach drop as the hope that had risen to the surface was crushed back down.

He tried to sit down, but nervous energy had him up and pacing again in no time until his feet felt like they were going to fall off and his legs were shaking and he practically collapsed into the uncomfortable plastic chair. "Tetsu, please wake up." Aomine pleaded, but there was no response.

It was a change in the beeping that woke him up. He didn't even remember falling asleep. But he was back on his feet and shouting for help in an instant when he saw the heart rate monitor was flat lining. He was so panicked he couldn't even feel the tears rolling down his cheeks. He had to be physically pulled away from Tetsu so that the doctors could get to him. He was sure he was yelling something, maybe for them to do something or maybe Tetsu's name, he wasn't sure, but all he knew was that someone had to do something.

When the news was given to him, that they couldn't bring him back, Aomine's legs gave out and he collapsed on the floor, staring blurrily at the flat lines of the heart monitor until the tears made it so he couldn't see anything. Or maybe that was the shot they gave him when he got back up and tried to punch a doctor, demanding that they keep on trying.

Either way, he felt empty when he woke up. There was no Tetsu. He pulled out his phone and dialed Tetsu's number, hoping beyond reason that Tetsu would pick up and tell him it had all been a horrible dream and that he wasn't alone.

"Hello, this is Kuroko Tetsuya. Please leave your name and phone number and I will get back to you as soon as possible." In the background he could hear himself yelling 'Oi! Tetsu!' from somewhere in their shared home before the beep signaling that he was supposed to leave a message.

"Tetsu, please. Please for the love of God; don't leave me here without you. Please, call me back. Tell me it's gonna be okay, because I don't know what you expect me to do without you. Nothing is okay right now. Tetsu, please –" And then the message timed out and he was calling again. And then he was going through his old voice mails just to hear Tetsu's voice.

"Daiki, I need you to pick up milk on the way home. I love you."

"Daiki, Momoi-san came over today. She said you two had plans? It's rude to not reschedule if you aren't going to show up. Please come home. I love you."

"It's late, I'm going to bed. I just wanted to say good night, be safe, I love you."

"Daiki, are we still on for tonight? I may be a few minutes late. I'm sorry, but I've got to make a lesson plan, because my computer lost the one for tomorrow. I love you."

When the messages ran out he started replaying them.