For a friend for Christmas. | Tumblr: specialagentaomine (crossposted here)

Aomine leaned against the gate of the daycare, watching as the parents picked up their children. He was here every day to pick Kuroko up, so most of the parents knew his name at this point. Most of them smiled at him and a couple greeted him and asked him how his work was going, if he'd caught any criminals, if they should watch out for anything, etcetera.

He would smile in response (Tetsu got onto him whenever he didn't, so he was attempting to put in more of an effort) and respond that no, there's nothing to worry about, ma'am, we've got it completely under control. They looked relieved and went on with their day, telling him to keep up the good work.

The last child came out with Tetsu herself, holding onto her apron. The girl looked as though she'd been crying, but it seemed Tetsu had soothed her. It always astounded him how easily she dealt with children. She always looked so happy to be around them, happy to teach them, happy to help them. He liked kids well enough, but he wasn't a great role model or anything and he wasn't always sure how to handle them. He could barely handle his relatives' kids.

When the child's father got there mere moments later, he was quick to thank Kuroko and take his daughter's hand, promising they'd get ice cream on the way home. Aomine watched in awe as the child was placated by such a simple thing (though, in all honesty, he couldn't blame the girl- the closest ice cream shop was pretty great).

"Good day, I'm assuming?" he asked, picking up her bag for her. She gave him a look as she'd always done (thankfully, she stopped protesting years ago) and walked alongside him down the sidewalk.

"It was," she responded. "The day went smoothly up until the girl you saw started crying over her blocks toppling over. She's not hard to soothe, thankfully, so it went pretty well, all in all."

She looked up at him. "How was your day, then?"

"Found a guy with some drugs and arrested him." It wasn't even that exciting. The guy didn't run very fast, therefore putting up very little challenge for the police officer who played his basketball team's ace in college.

They got to their apartment a few minutes later. Aomine got out the keys and raised them to the door before pausing and glancing at Tetsu, who was now looking at him with something like curiosity.

"Say, Tetsu… I was wondering…" He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Can it wait until we get inside?" she asked, sounding a bit amused.

"No- well, yes, but… I was just wondering how you felt about… having kids…?"