Date written: April 25th, 2017. Practically a really random draft involving two hotheaded OCs and a pairing. UnchainedHeart VolarFinch FayeeeM

"Yo, who's this?"

A yawn, one hand rubbing at bleary green eyes while the other holds a phone. He rests his head against the top of the headboard, wishing that he can just let sleep win the battle so he can have even a bit of rest. College had been kicking his ass for the past semester; he barely even had time to himself anymore.

So now that somebody is disturbing his preciously limited time for sleep, Basil L. Eren can't say that he's exactly pleased with whomever's calling him at the ungodly hour of 8:45 AM on a freaking Tuesday. (What? He's exhausted from a surprise exam in Law the night before, don't blame him.)

There's no answer for a minute—probably two, but it isn't exactly a piece of cake to keep track of time when one's extremely sleep-deprived and had just been woken up from his pleasant dreams. (Which he wants to get back to, by the way.) He lets out a sigh, muffled by the fact that he's dropped himself back down onto his comfortable mattress, face half-planted onto his pillow.

Basil debates whether to hang up then and there, seeing that there's still no answer and whomever's calling him might've just gotten the wrong number—

"..Oh God, it worked," he hears from the other end of the line, and his green eyss shoot wide open. It sounds female, albeit a little choked up—probably from crying, but he can't be so sure. He rolls over to his other side, carefully cradling his phone in his right hand so it wouldn't be crushed.

Rain patters against his closed windows, some forming tiny puddles on the sill, but not enough that they'd drip onto the plush carpet of his apartment. Living on a tropical archipelago sure had its downsides sometimes, that was for sure.

"S'cuse me? Ya' didn't hear what I said first, didn'tcha? Who's this?" His voice's still slurred with sleep, he knows, but he can't exactly pay much attention to that know that some unknown girl's calling his phone at an ungodly hour on a weekday morning, while apparently crying. "Do I know ya'?"

A sound like muffled laughter comes through from the other end of the line, although it sounds strange, what with the choked up tone of voice that girl had been using. "..of course," she murmurs, as if to herself, before she abruptly clears her throat, "You don't know me. And if you listen to what I tell you, you never will."

That gets his attention, his curiosity reaching its peak. Basil sits upright, briefly bemoaning the fact that he'd left the invitingly warm confines of his bed (sleeping in on rainy days was the best), and holds the phone closer to his ear.

"Wait, what? What are ya' saying?" He demands, "What's your name? Why are you speaking like you know me?"

He hears the girl take a deep, shaky breath, probably to calm herself, although it doesn't work—he can still her crying on the other end of the line. "My name... My name is Aoi. And I do know you, Basil L. Eren"—he manages to stop himself from blurting out any more of her questions in favor of letting her continue—"because I was once... close to you, so to speak."

So she was an old friend, Basil deduced. Somebody he'd met years ago, and probably had forgotten about. But he can't help but frown, running a hand through his hair. He searched through his memories, the frown deepening even more.

"I don't know anybody named 'Aoi'," he says, "except for that guy I know from Law, and he's a hot-blooded bastard." He hears the girl laugh slightly, which is abruptly cut off by the sound of static.

"As I said, you don't," a pause. "Not yet, anyway. But again, like I said, if you listen to me, you'll never know me. I called you so that we won't meet."

He furrows his brow. "How would that even be possible? And why'd ya' even want to do that?"

Basil watches the rain patter against the windowpanes as he waits for the girl—no, Aoi—to answer. He listens to the heavy breathing on the other end of the line, hears the light tap-tap-tap, tap, tap-tap of the raindrops on the glass, and he closes his eyes.

"Because I don't want to lose you all over again."

His breath catches in his throat as he hears Aoi sob. What? "That rainy day, April 25th, 2017, you're woken up by your friend—a person who shares the same name as I do, Aoi Dracule—at 9 in the morning. You weren't supposed to have any other summer classes, but apparently your professor in Financial Accounting wanted to speak with the two of you. And on the jeepney ride towards your university's campus.." she pauses, "you sit next to me, and you're teased by your companion to talk to me. Everything starts from there."

He looks at the clock—only six minutes before the time she'd mentioned. His throat seemingly goes dry, and he barely manages to get the words out, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Damn it, Basil!" She yells, and he somehow manages to keep himself from flinching at the loud volume of her voice. Her tone softens to a low, broken whisper, "I already told you. I don't want to lose you again."

He narrows his eyes, digging his fingers into the case of his phone. "What are ya' even talking about? How are you going to lose me—again?"

Aoi seems to stop, taking another one of those shaky breaths, "On that jeepney ride on that rainy day, I'd forgotten my umbrella. You find out that my department isn't far away from yours, so when we disembark from the jeepney, you offer to walk me to where I'm supposed to go. We.. we hit it off, so to speak, and about a month after that, we fall in love, and you ask me out on my birthday. I said yes, of course. It's when we've been dating for over two years that everything goes wrong.. I'm of mixed nationalities, but I'd been born and raised in Spain, only coming to the Philippines to finish college. So after I graduate, I move back to Spain. We still keep in touch, but it's not like it used to be, so.."

He waits, stiffening as he hears footsteps outside of his apartment door.

"F-for our third anniversary, my birthday, you decide to book a ticket to Spain without telling me of your plans. You were so excited, telling me that you'll see me soon. I had my suspicions, of course, especially when you told me to wait for you in my apartment on the day of our anniversary." She pauses.

"But you never came."

Basil clenches his fist, digging his fingernails into the sheets. "So that's why—"

"I don't want to lose you. I want to make things right." Aoi whispers into his ear just as he hears someone knocking on his apartment door. (There's also the occasional profanity, but he ignored that.)

"I don't want to lose the chance to meet you, either." Basil replies, and he hears her protests.

He stands, walking over to the door, pulling it open. Aoi Dracule stands in the doorway, arms crossed across his torso as he glares up at the taller brunet, who's still in his pajamas (an old tank top and a pair of shorts) and holding his phone close to his ear.

"Prof said he wants to meet us." He says shortly, moodily glancing away. "So hurry the fuck up, bastard. You don't exactly have all the time in the world when that old man's the one who's 'summoned'"—he gestures vaguely, resembling quotation marks—"us for who-knows-what."

He narrows his eyes. "Who're you even talking to, anyway? Your girlfriend?"

The brunet lifts one shoulder up in a shrug, "Future girlfriend," he replies, and he hears Aoi intensifying her protests from the other end of the line.

"Are you even listening to me? Basil, please, don't—" she cries, and if he closes his eyes he can see her, sitting by the windowsill of a lonely, dark room, watching the rain fall and patter against the glass like her tears fall upon the sill. "I don't want to lose you again, not in another world, not in another time. Don't meet me, don't say hello, because I can't—I won't take it. I can't lose you, I can't take the thought of you saying 'hello', because I know we'll have to say 'goodbye'."

"Ya' know me, Aoi," he whispers, just enough so his annoyed companion won't hear. "I don't want to say goodbye, either, so I don't plan to."

He hears her whisper three more words before the line goes dead.

—

"Honestly, you're always flirting," Aoi grumbles, settling into the edge of the crowded seats of the jeepney. He turns his head, glaring at the taller brunet who's seated across from him. "Even at an ungodly hour in the damn morning."

Basil offers a sheepish grin, but it doesn't quite reach his green eyes. He leans further back into his seat, accidentally jostling the person sitting to his left. (Or to Aoi's right, as he sees it.) He turns, an apology already lingering on the tip of his tongue, but he swallows it back into his throat, where it dies as he takes in the person sitting next to him.

Her red hair was tied into a braid, swept over one shoulder. Her eyes were a pale blue, half-hidden behind silver-rimmed glasses, and were now looking expectantly at him for an apology.

A slow smile takes over his lips. "Hello, beautiful. My name's Basil, what's yours?"

The girl narrows her eyes, pursing her lips into a thin, unimpressed line. Aoi had to cough in order to fight back a snicker. Serves the flirt right, he thinks as he watches the girl turn around to face the brunet. When she speaks, Basil can see a translucent figure in her place—a woman with short, red hair, and tears streaming from her tired blue eyes.

"My name is Aoi. And it's not a pleasure to meet you."

end.

Confession Time: This is actually based off of a USUK oneshot I read over in ao3.net, entitled, Today is Tuesday by Butterfish. It has the same plot as this little oneshot I wrote here, only I changed the backstory and several details because I won't be too original if I just copied the entire thing here. The premise is the same, though—one of the pairing calls the other's past self so that they won't meet. I just didn't keep the original ending. (Because it's heartbreaking.) Also, this was supposed to be only about the Aoi's, but I changed the plot of the original oneshot I was gonna do, so I decided on writing this as it is.
Hope ya' liked this anyway~

[Word Count: 1,875.]