Work Text:
Aomine truly believed he could take care of himself. The problem was, nobody else did.
It started in elementary school. Everybody believed that there were only two ways to get him to do something when he set his mind not to do it - take away his very first own basketball (a favorite threat of his mother's), or, a way that far more frequently happened, just asking Satsuki to take care of it.
"Daiki-kun needs to pay more attention in math rather than shooting paper balls into the rubbish bin," his teachers told his parents. Their advice? Sit him next to Satsuki.
It was not that Aomine hated sitting next to Satsuki. She was his best friend, and what the teachers did not know was that he was much better at distracting Satsuki than she was at getting him to pay attention. Many a math lesson had been spent with their heads bent over their 'shared' math textbook, where that month's basketball magazine had been hidden (math was unofficially known as basketball magazine period, because the math textbook was conveniently the same size as the magazine).
"Daiki-kun needs to focus more on writing grammatically correct English sentences rather than getting into fights with other boys about who's the 'coolest' NBA player," teachers told his parents. Their advice? Keep him in from recess that day. Oh, and sit him next to Satsuki.
He hated being kept in from recess. It was the only time he got to run around and climb on trees (teachers were always on him about stacking tables to make a basketball hoop). Sitting next to Satsuki in English was not so bad- she didn't like English either, and they spent the time having whispered debates about which defense formation was better, box or man-to-man (Satsuki always thought she won because she could quote data, but Aomine had gut feeling. He just knew he was right.)
It was bad enough when teachers thought he couldn't take care of himself when it came to his studies. It wasn't that he couldn't study, he just didn't care. All 9-year-old Aomine cared about was to play basketball, talk about basketball, and spend his summers catching crayfish. But teachers all thought he couldn't take care of himself. He knew he totally could if he tried.
Then came middle school. By this point, it was pretty much a given that Satsuki and Aomine would be seated next to one another in class. Aomine had given up trying to convince everyone he could take care of himself when it came to academics. It was also more that he couldn't care enough about his studies to convince them. Besides, it meant more basketball talk with Satsuki during classes, which at least meant he wouldn't feel so bored he would sleep through them.
Somehow, it felt worse when people thought he couldn't take care of himself when it came to basketball. How could they? It was basketball, and it was Aomine. He almost felt like he was born to play it. The feel of the ball at his fingertips, the rush of adrenaline as he dodged through arms and legs and screens, the certainty of Satsuki's constant presence by the side of the court, the ball always within his grasp and control like a well-loved pet; all those things combined made basketball feel like a place Aomine belonged.
Basketball at Teikou, however, was different. Whilst Aomine had always played and loved basketball for himself (and also played a little for Satsuki; with her own love for the game stronger and more enduring than his, he knew she watched and revelled in his progress in some ways more than he did), at Teikou, somehow it became that Aomine was not playing for himself, but for victory.
And so, it became that playing basketball for victory meant that Aomine could not take care of his basketball by himself.
When he met Tetsu, he was so happy to find someone that treated basketball the way he did- loving it so much that winning was secondary to the feeling of playing your absolute best against an opponent. Playing with Tetsu meant that he had someone else to keep his love of basketball alive together- and also someone to help keep the burden of winning separate from the love of the game.
But then his basketball suddenly became something unrecognizable. Rather than a well-loved pet, his basketball evolved far beyond his expectation, yet so frighteningly within his control that he felt he could not lose. Winning was no longer a burden, but an inevitable conclusion. And the more he won inevitably, the more people started thinking he did not need to be taken care of when it came to basketball.
It was all bitterly ironic. The one time Aomine finally needed people to take care of him, and the coach had told him not to come to practice anymore if he did not want to.
So Aomine finally got what he thought he wanted, yet it was not what he wanted at all.
When high school came, and Tetsu finally beat him, he felt all the normal feelings: surprise, anger, disappointment. But he also felt relief.
It wasn't much of a start, but at least he could begin someplace new. Discovering what basketball meant to him instead of playing for the sake of winning.
Now he could start trying to take care of himself, beginning with his basketball.