AN: Hey ho, you don't have to read this if you're not interested, it's got nothing to do with the main story!

I just wrote this as stress relief ya see. This chapter is a fic of a fic lmao, basically a oneshot AU of the story if it was a soulmate setting. This is a mesh of like five different soulmate AUs, including sharing thoughts, sharing pain, first words on wrist, etc. 

And once again I say, this chapter isn't canon to the fic, I just scrounged some ships up and wrote a guilty pleasure wish fulfillment because it's cute and I'm stressed-- in fact, you can read all this as platonic if you're a gen lover like me.

-

Everyone has a soulmate or two, or three. Half of them are usually platonic, a few of them would give you a bond that transcends anything else, but only one of them is the one you'll love forever.

Aisaka finds himself reincarnated in an anime.

A fucking basketball anime because the world likes to laugh at him. After a mad game of midnight basketball, tearful reunions with dad, a shower and a haircut, he looks for his soul markings, which, thankfully in this world, are also on his right wrist.

And lord almighty, there's like, five. Or six.

"This defeats the entire purpose of having soulmates," he mutters to himself, reading through the lines of the first important things his soulmates would say to him. Something not quite life-changing, but definitely what marks the beginning of their relationship, may it be fast friendships, immediate enemies, or love at second sight.

You can shoot three-pointers? Teach me.

Hey, you. Wanna play a one-on-one?

Oh crap, he's kinda cute.

Huh? Hundred-eighty-six. Why?

I've heard a lot about you, too. Heard you jump like a fairy.

Hey, you'll catch a cold!

Half of those probably have something to do with basketball. Makes sense.

The fifth one, in particular, sounds awfully antagonistic. Aisaka was either going to hate the heck out of this brat or he's going to smother them with so much affection, they'll start to hate him. Either way, he hopes that one's a platonic one.

Six of them, huh... Seven in a bond, including himself.

Like a rainbow, if his knowledge of this anime is right. He hopes it really isn't them-- if there was one thing he knew about this story, it was that everyone was apparently an asshole, except the main character, who was the emotionless asshole. Generally, all absolute assholes.

His hair was indigo, too. It would fit-- but okay, maybe he won't think about it yet.

Suddenly being in a new world and suddenly needing to find new soulmates really isn't really good for his mental health. Actually, he's almost embarrassed at the thought of it.

He's only cared for himself thus far-- the old Hiroto, that is. He was so depressed, so sad-- Aisaka finds a line of scars on his left wrist and knows exactly what that implies-- he wonders, no, he knows that his soulmates would have seen them too.

After all, among the six, it wouldn't be strange for Hiroto to share hurt with at least one. There's a warmth in his chest, like someone is desperately, so desperately calling out to them.

Like someone wants him to know that he's not alone in everything, it's a warm, loving hug from someone he doesn't even know yet.

He wonders if they're worried about him, even now.

The Hiroto from before was such a selfish little child, after all. Even if his pain was with reason.

If he ever meets his soulmates, he was going to apologize, first and foremost.

-

"You can shoot three pointers?" Kuroko asks, his voice so aghast and so in awe. His next words come as a little more than a desperate plea, "teach me."

Ogiwara excitedly pipes up with "me too, me too!"

Aisaka thinks he might have messed up-- elementary schoolers don't exactly know how to shoot a flawless three-pointer, after all.

His hands are still shaking, not used to social interaction and certainly not used to being looked at with such anticipation-- so Aisaka gulps, and he manages a shaky line.

"Uh, if you'll be fine with me, then."

Ogiwara busts into a loud cheer, but Kuroko freezes solid.

That's exactly when Aisaka feels a sense of deja vu, too. Someone asking him to teach them how to shoot three-pointers? Where has he heard that before, maybe in his past life?

"Ogiwara-kun, Ogiwara-kun, Ogiwara-kun," Kuroko spams the words like repeated text messages, tugging at the boy's sleeves as he pointed at Aisaka with the widest eyes while still remaining stoic, "he just said it, he just said line number two."

Now Ogiwara stops right there, mid-movement and in the air and everything.

He turns around, eyes wide, "what."

Aisaka blinks. He checks the lines on his wrist.

And "oh," he realizes too.

They spend a moment in silence, just staring at each other.

"Are you good at sharing?" Ogiwara asks suddenly, "cause I found Kuroko first."

Aisaka flushes madly, "you can have him!"

-

What he shares with Kuroko, he can only guess, is passion.

There is nothing much they have in common except for their mutual and mad love for basketball, and really, that's all it takes to bring them closer together.

Aisaka and Ogiwara don't share a link, but they get along anyways, in the most pure-hearted of friendships-- the kind that goes beyond the bond and so much more.

"Kuroko has a harem," Aisaka whines, "I think I'll give up, Ogiwara. His arm looks like a war waiting to happen."

Kuroko has a whooping nine soul marks.

Ogiwara was the first line, and Aisaka the second.

The third line, "there's no way someone that likes basketball can be a bad person", is still waiting to happen.

"Ehh, you're giving up already?" Ogiwara retorts, "but we have the overwhelming advantage right now!"

They're in Maji Burger, on a counter table sitting three in a row. Aisaka and Ogiwara are speaking to each other with Kuroko between them, sipping on a milkshake as he listens to the idiots banter about his soul marks.

"One day, Kuroko is going to meet someone that makes his raging hormones react with glee and he'll ditch you without a second thought!" Aisaka says, ignoring the glare Kuroko sends him, "you'll get demoted to the tragic backstory that's unlocked in chapter 204 or something."

"But I'm his first! I'll always have a special place in his heart!" Ogiwara wails dramatically, filled with despair as he chugs on his cola and wipes away tears.

"Childhood friends never win, especially the cheerful brunets," Aisaka tells him, almost mournfully, "that's how romances in shoujo manga always go."

Ogiwara has a revelation, "but if, from now on, I kill every blondie Kuroko gets close to... wait, he's gone! Kuroko is gone! When did he-- he ran!"

"What? After him!" Aisaka declares.

Yeah, Ogiwara and Aisaka were definitely soulmates, even without the marks. They were bound by fate to be absolutely fucking obnoxious together.

-

Aisaka meets his second soulmate a little after Ogiwara leaves.

"Hey, you. Wanna play a One-on-One?"

He blinks at that. It's a fairly common phrase, he's heard it a number of times with the streetballers they chance upon in the court. But when Aisaka hears this one-- the gruff, slightly haughty tone, the little snark at the edge of the phrase-- he just knows that this is the one.

Before they even know each other's names, they learn each other's pure-hearted desire and passion for basketball.

It's rough, it's fun, and it scrapes their insides like a boiling pit of intense want.

They get stuck on every step, their instincts aligning and their wills bringing them to stalemate after stalemate, score after score.

When Aomine finally wins, it's because Aisaka collapses first.

Then Aomine drops straight down too, body heaving from the effort, gratefully sucking in lungfulls of much-needed breath.

"This is amazing! It's my first time seeing someone match up to Dai-chan so easily!" the girl with pink hair crouches beside them, handing them a towel and a can of pocari each. "You guys were making the same steps and everything, it was kind of funny."

And that's when Aisaka's past life knowledge comes to mind, and the dots join.

"Soulmates sometimes share instinct and skill," Aisaka says between breaths.

"Which means it'll be twice as hard for them to face each other head on-- because it's like fighting against your own shadow... or something, Well, in conclusion let's never do that again."

There's a pause.

Then the pink-haired girl squeals delightedly, making everyone jump, startled.

"Dai-chan, that's your second line, right?!" she blurts excitedly, "you found him!"

From where they lay, on his tanned wrist, were five lines.

When Aisaka squinted, he found the second line-- in conclusion, let's never do that again. Ah, the magic of soulmates.

(Is his last line just a string of 'I'm sorry' over and over?)

"No wonder all your movements were so annoying," the tanned boy groans, "but that was hella fun! We are definitely doing that again."

"Oh god, I'm going to die," Aisaka mourns, then his face curves into a wide grin, "sounds awesome! We should play as a team. We'd be unbeatable."

Momoi giggles at that.

Aisaka turns to her, "let me guess, you been stuck with just this guy for a while?" he asks, "he doesn't look like a gentleman, so you've probably had it hard."

"Hey, right off the bat with being rude to me?" Aomine raises an irked tone.

And Momoi plays along, looking positively exhausted, "I've always had fantasies of an ideal guy-- it certainly wasn't this brute of a ganguro here... oh, woe is me."

"I empathize," Aisaka responds, jabbing a thumb at Aomine, "let's pawn this guy off to the nearest next soulmate we can find him? I reckon I can treat you better than his violent ass."

"I've met you less than five minutes ago, but I would ditch him for you in a heartbeat," Momoi declares.

"Satsuki?!"

-

Aisaka doesn't meet his third soulmate immediately.

He first starts hearing things-- "oh damn, I don't know what to get Saya-nee for her birthday"-- and Aisaka actually stops right in the middle of his Shoyu Ramen, realizes that the voice is coming from the inside of his head, and goes, "holy fuck."

"Hey, language."

"Oh-- sorry, just-- am I-- are you hearing this?"

"Wait, what? Holy shit."

Social anxiety be damned, they kept talking in their heads.

Aisaka rambles, and with it being in his thoughts, all his nervous questions are just listened to first hand and he spends an hour listening to his soulmate diagnose his anxiety.

Then he helps his soulmate pick a present for his big sister, and they bid each other a very comfortable goodbye. They naturally know how to stop sending or receiving these telepathic messages, though there are a few temporary slips here and there.

Life moves on.

Aisaka thinks he likes the next guy. He hasn't heard him say the line yet, but he knows he'll probably hear it soon. The guy sounds warm and calm and a little more mature. Aisaka thinks he'll enjoy a big-brother type.

But when he actually meets the guy, it's a few months later and right out of the blue.

He finds himself before Nijimura Shuuzo, someone he faintly remembers as a character from the anime that is this stupid world-- and his soulmate choose that moment to pipe up a telepathic message.

"Oh crap, he's kinda cute."

Nijimura is staring at him, looking a little starstruck by the freshman he was supposed to greet. He recovers quickly, "you're pretty tall for a first year," he tries to compose himself, but the damage is already done.

Aisaka is blushing all the way to his ears, and he's a second away from screaming out loud. He's already screeching at the top of his lungs on his head, and he's making sure his soulmate gets every second of it.

After two seconds of incoherent screeching and confused staring, Nijimura fucking realizes and he, too, flusters.

"I- I'm-- oh god, I'm sorry!" he panics, "I didn't-- could you stop reading my mind this is embarrassing for me too--"

"That's easier said than done--!!" Aisaka sounds like a dying frog at this point, covering his face and wailing and turning away like a chastised maiden, "geez, day one and you're already using pick-up lines on me!"

"I can't control what I think!" Nijimura says, defensively.

"Somehow, that's worse!" Aisaka snaps back.

-

His fourth soulmate came literally out of nowhere.

He was there, nervous but not really, trying to break the sticky atmosphere of the five first-string making first-years-- and it just happened.

The tallest of the five hums at him when they bumped into each other, but instead of an apology, Aisaka just gapes in awe of his height.

Aisaka is in no way short. He's a whooping hundred seventy-- so what the heck are your parents feeding you, mister eventually definitely two meters giant?

"Woah!" he exclaims, "this is scary. How tall are you?"

And the purple-haired boy is a little surprised by the question as well.

"Huh?" he sounds unaffected, but somehow Aisaka can tell that he's strangely exasperated by the question, so much he had to stop eating his chips to just register the actuality of the situation. "Hundred-eighty-six. Why?"

"Huh, that's not as tall as I thought..." he trailed off, "uh..."

They're stuck there, just like that. Staring at each other awkwardly, trying to understand the situation without making a scene, expertly failing, because Aisaka looked positively terrified for his life without trying.

"He's mine," Aomine slings an arm around Aisaka's shoulder, casting a stern, sharp look at Murasakibara.

And Murasakibara glares right back. "He's puny. I don't want him."

Strangely enough, Aisaka feels a flare of irritation in his chest. It's not that he's feeling irked by Murasakibara's dismissal of him-- it's... strange.

Like the feeling isn't exactly his.

He forgets about it in a second, though. Because the next thing he knows, Akashi and Midorima, as well as Akashi and Murasakibara, were soulmates-- and the entire court is equal parts weirded out as they are dumbfounded.

Aisaka, though, thinks he's lucky to get the giant out of all the nutcases.

-

Midorima and Murasakibara get along spectacularly horrendously. It's strange, considering how they both have Akashi as their first soulmate. Maybe they felt a natural sense of rivalry for Akashi's attention.

(Hilariously enough, Akashi's first soulmate is neither of them. It's Nijimura.)

Their classmates are rather surprised to find that Purple is his soulmate and not Green. They were somehow entirely convinced he had both of them.

Aisaka's soul marks are always hidden under his wrist brace, so no one can really tell.

-

It's surprisingly easy for Aisaka to get along with Murasakibara, mainly because of what they share.

Emotions.

Murasakibara is always bored and hungry. Craving something sweet, sometimes salty-- and it's always during classes.

It's honestly very distracting and Aisaka does want to pass his classes...

So one day, they pass each other in the hallway, and Aisaka hands him a bag of cookies from his Home Ec class.

"Here, I had leftovers. You're hungry, right?" he says. "You just had P.E, right?"

Murasakibara literally blooms with joy, and Aisaka is suddenly filled with overwhelming emotion because dude, the gigantic idiot is adorable.

"Ah, okay. Thanks," is Murasakibara's curt and toneless response.

Aisaka can feel the exploding joy that Murasakibara feels in his chest and he can't help but just laugh. Oh, he's such a huge guy, but he's just a softie inside.

"I have Home Ec every Tuesday, so you can come to my class and I'll hand you whatever I have left," Aisaka promises.

"I can?" Murasakibara's eyes are sparkling.

Aisaka beams, "of course!"

Aisaka gains Murasakibara's sudden undivided attention, and it's the funniest thing in the world. He's like a huge puppy.

-

Aisaka's fifth soulmate, as expected, was an absolute piece of shit.

To the point where, uh, certain countermeasures have to be devised.

"Wait! Haizaki!"

The boy is already on his way out, and Aisaka tuts, a determined expression crossing his face.

He peels off his wrist brace with one smooth movement, reaches down to the bench-- and with one angry howl he yanks it upward, overturning the water bottles, the first aid kit, and Momoi who scampered right off before she was crushed.

Haizaki drops straight to the ground, howling.

Aisaka is biting down on his lips to prevent his own screaming.

Haizaki swirls on him. "What the fuck, holy fuck this hurts, what are you doing you dipshit are you fucking crazy--"

Nijimura rushes over, standing between them as Haizaki furiously marches over, looking a cross between pained tears and raging ogre, "wait wait hold up, your two calm down, no point fighting because you'll just feel each other's pain anyways--"

With a straight face and a serious demeanor only seen in the clutch moments of a movie's climax, Aisaka hissed out a threat straight in the gray-haired boy's face.

"If you don't stay for practice, Haizaki, I'll break all my bones at you."

After a stunned pause, Murasakibara and Aomine are laughing in the corner and Nijimura looks utterly defeated.

"You motherfucker you're insane!" Haizaki absolutely screeches.

"You don't say shit when you're the one that gets into fights and gets your ass handed!" Aisaka yells right back, "get a taste of your own medicine you inconsiderate piece of shit!"

"Who're you calling inconsiderate you suicidal dumbass!"

-

"What, you're not going to drag me out?"

Haizaki growls at the boy. AIsaka just sits down by the bench, fishing out some coins for the vending machine.

"Nah, you're fine there. I don't think we'll make it for practice, anyways."

They're silent.

Haizaki's jacket is torn. He's covered in scratches and bruises, and a particularly nasty scrape is still covered in dust at his elbow.

Yet, he works the crane game, like none of it bothers him.

Aisaka knows otherwise. It hurts enough that he doesn't quite want to get up anymore after sitting down.

But it's fine.

It's still better than some of the phantom pains he's had to suffer in his quadriplegic past life.

He retrieves a bottle of water, and he drinks.

"Hey, Haizaki."

Haizaki doesn't turn around. He just hums in acknowledgement.

So Aisaka tells him, "I'm sorry."

Haizaki's hand stiffens. Then he sighs, and presses the button to lower the crane. When he speaks again, his voice is low.

"You're apologizing? For what?" he reaches down to pick up the stupid greay-furred cat toy that was sort of ugly. "I don't need some half-assed pity apology."

Aisaka shakes his head. "Nothing like that," he says. "I think it's fine that you fight. I don't blame you, but you always look so remorseful about it. You're angry, after all-- it's not like I ever cared about you either when I..."

He trails off.

Aisaka reaches over to his left wrist, tugging down the sleeves even more.

Haizaki chucks the gray cat toy at him.

"Huh?! You think I fight because of you? Don't be such a fucking narcissist, you asshole!" he yells. "That has nothing to do with it, get over yourself!"

Aisaka gets a face full of fake fur, and he's confused. "You know that's not what I meant--"

"I don't care about what you used to do!" Haizaki snaps, "and I'm not asking, either!"

Aisaka readies himself to yell again, but Haizaki's eyes make him freeze.

Because they're filled with tears.

"I fight because I want to," Haizaki tries to look angry, despite the crying. "So butt out of my business, because I can deal with my own problems!"

Aisaka's face scrunches up, on the verge of tears too-- but he holds it back. He stands up, holding the cat toy in his left hand and tightening his right fist.

"You're such a selfish jerk," Aisaka says.

And then he punches Haizaki right in the face.

"OW!"

-

Later, when they angrily walk home together, they're covered in bruises, hurting everywhere, and Aisaka has decided to name the cat toy 'Hai-chan'.

They stand beside each other at the overhead crossing, watching the lights of the city brim across the night sky.

"So," Aisaka speaks up first, "you feeling better now?"

Haizaki scoffs, "yeah."

They laugh, then cringe because ow ow, that hurt my bruised rib. Or was that your bruised rib? It was just so dumb.

They stare at each other's stupid mugs for a while longer.

Then they smile.

"See ya tomorrow, Hiroto," Haizaki turns away first, walking away with a wave.

"Yeah," Aisaka waves back. "See you tomorrow, Shougo."

-

-

-

Aisaka cries.

And cries, and keeps crying.

Because he's broken.

He's broken.

He doesn't know how shitty he's making Murasakibara feel, or is this pain registered with Haizaki? Because his heart hurts so much.

He's a shitty soulmate. The only thing he gives his soulmates are misery and agony.

He runs to America.

Shattered, barely holding together because there was nowhere to discard the shards. He can hold all the pieces of himself and yet, he's still looking for the first good place to leave them behind.

He's lost his passion.

His skills are useless.

He's numbed out his thoughts.

His emotions are a burden.

He's filled with pain.

What else can he have? He's given so many things, yet all of them are useless here.

So he keeps running. He runs to the court outside, with only a measly lamp and a basketball to accompany his break for freedom, his drive for liberation.

He jumps, and he soars.

And he cries.

-

A purple sweater is pulled over his shoulders.

"Hey, you'll catch a cold! You even forgot your shoes... geez, you're too reckless!"

Tatsuya pants, breathless from his flustered run. He puts his hands on Hiroto's face, and checks-- checks for wounds, for tears, for anything that shouldn't be there.

And Hiroto is filled with warmth. A burning warmth, so kind and overwhelming, it makes him want to cry.

But it's nice, so he smiles.

"Thank you."

When Tatsuya's face lights up with recognition, Hiroto giggles.

Maybe things will be alright after all. Even in a landslide, there's always a flower blooming in the rain.