Thank you for the congratulations and the request! Officer
Aomine is a popular one! I don’t think I followed the letter of the song
entirely because the rumor part is so small but I feel good about what I came
up with and think it is within the spirit of the song. If it’s so off the mark
you want me to try again, please let me know, but I hope you enjoy this!

---

Heard It Through The Grapevine – cover by Candice Glover – Aomine

“Who was that woman I saw with Aomine?”

“The one with the pink hair? I have no idea! Maybe an old
girlfriend?”

“Or a new one if the rumors about him are true. Really, I
thought he’d turned over a new leaf since marrying his wife but I guess people
never really change.”

“It’s just a shame because she’s so sweet…”

The voices of the two women fade to white noise as you hold
a shaking coffee cup in your hand. Thanks to the high backs of the booth in the
diner, they’d no idea you were able to hear their conversation. Not that you
were one to listen in on other people, but being alone you had nothing to
distract you and hearing your husband’s name of course caught your attention.
Now, you weren’t sure if you were glad to hear this or not. The phrase “ignorance
is bliss” wasn’t coined for no good reason.

They rise and walk out, still not noticing that one of the
subjects of their gossip is sitting with tears rolling down her face as they
continue their mindless chatter.

You sit there for a long time, staring into space as you go
over the last couple months in your mind. Daiki has been busy, picking up
extra shifts (or so he says) because he wants to make sergeant and with the
heavy competition within the department he needs to put in all the work he can.

But now you’re second guessing him, wondering if perhaps he’s
been lying to you this whole time. When you started dating Aomine after
college, some catty girls who never got past high school warned you that he
wouldn’t be faithful, that his sex drive was too high for one woman to satisfy.
Granted, you knew Aomine was a considerable horn dog, but it was just in his
nature being an alpha male. One year into the academy, he was working his ass
off to earn his stripes. When they’d tried to tell you more, you’d stopped
them. Regardless of how he was in the past, Aomine for the most part treated
you with respect and really cared about you.

So you continued dating for two years and at his graduation
from the academy he proposed.

That was five years ago and you’d never been happier; until
now.

You shake your head, standing up and tossing a tip on the
table as you make your way outside. It’s raining, but you can be bothered with
your umbrella. In times of reflection, you’ve found it soothing to walk beneath
the patter of water, symbolically cleansing your mind so you can think more
clearly. But the pounding of the drops and the claps of thunder only add to the
turmoil burning in your soul. It increases tenfold when you reach the substation
only to see your husband with his arms wrapped around a woman with pink hair
who, when she turns, you can see is pregnant.

A startled cry escapes your lips, but is drowned in the
sound of the downpour. You whole body is shaking, not from cold but from anger
and sadness; how could he be so blatant about his betrayal, standing in front
of the very place where all your friends reside because everyone knows a cop’s
life, and that of his wife, is so centered around their job there is no getting
away from it.

In a blind fury, you race away into the night, stumbling on
the slick ground where you cut up your knees pretty badly but you don’t feel
it, not with the rush of adrenaline coursing through your veins. You don’t know
how long you run, but it feels like forever. By the time you stop, you’re
somewhere you don’t recognize and realize with horror that when you fell you’d
dropped your purse which held your cell phone.

Crouching under a stairwell, body trembling from the cold, you
settle your head against your knees and cry until your eyes hold no more
tears. Time passes by slowly and you know you should get up and go home but you
simply don’t have the energy to try, don’t have the guts to face Daiki and what
he’s done. Was that why they were at the station? To show off what you struggled
to give him? Doesn’t he understand how much you love him? How much you were
willing to give up for him?

Drifting in and out of sleepy consciousness, your head
settles against the bricks behind you. Eventually, you fall prey to the lull of
sleep, body soaked to the bone and just not caring what happens to you anymore.

---

Warmth surrounds you and you wonder if you’ve left the
earthly plane for another. As you rouse, trying to open your eyes, you hear a
voice calling your name. It’s gravelly, laced with what seems to be pain and
worry but it can’t be who you think it is because he never shows those
emotions, never allows himself to appear weak in front of anyone, including
you.

But when you open your eyes, it’s to find Daiki leaning over
you, his hand holding one of yours while his other strokes the top of your
head. When you reach a full state of consciousness, you see his brow furrow and
there’s your Daiki.

“________, what the hell were you thinking? Do you know how
worried I was?”

“Officer Aomine, please-“begins the doctor but there’s no
stopping your husband once he gets going.

“I thought you were dead! And you could have been, you know,
with where they found you! Thank god Izuki has that damn eagle like vision
otherwise there’s no telling how long it could have been before you were found!”

Struggling to find your voice, you finally croak out, “What
do you care? You’ve got someone else now anyway.”

His body goes completely still, face the picture of shocked incredulity.
“What did you just say?” he says darkly.

You cough, taking a sip of water to coat your dry throat
before asking, “Why…why didn’t you tell me, you were so unhappy? Why did you have
to betray me like that?”

Aomine’s anger melts away to full blown confusion. He takes
your hand, squeezing it so you can’t let go and bores his gaze into your eyes. “I
have no fucking idea what you’re talking about, so either you’re delirious from
your fever or someone has been filling your head with absolute bullshit!”

“I saw you with her, Daiki!” you shout suddenly and the
whole room stills in the wake of your revelation.

Aomine wracks his brain, trying desperately to make sense of
what you’re saying. Then, as comprehension dawns, he starts to chuckle. Then he’s
doubled over in laughter, eyes watering. Your hands clench in tight fists and you
wish you had the strength to slug him a good one.

He works to compose himself quickly, wiping his eyes before
looking back into yours. Cupping your face with his large hands, the feel of
him hot against your skin, he says, “The “her” you’re referring to is one of my
oldest friends, Satsuki Kuroko.”

“Your…friend?” you ask weakly.

He nods, kissing your forehead and murmuring against your
skin, “Yes, my precious idiot. She and I grew up together, went to high school
together. We parted ways in college and she ended up going to the same school
as my best friend, Tetsu. They got married about a year ago and are having a
kid.”

“Well, if that’s true, where was he?” you counter.

“She’s here on business, decided to drop by and surprise me
because she always knows everything about everyone.”

“Why wasn’t she at our wedding if she’s such a good friend?”

“When I told her the date of it, she let me know she couldn’t
make it,” he supplies.

“Daiki, why didn’t you ever tell me about her?”

He shrugs. “I don’t talk about my past because I’m not that
proud of it. We moved on and grew up and have our own lives. But that doesn’t
mean we forgot about each other.” He kisses your lips, seeming to breathe life
back into your soul. “I wasn’t hiding her, she’s just…more of memory now.”

A choked sob pulls from your chest as you fling your arms
around Daiki’s neck. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry that I didn’t trust you! That
I worried you over nothing, that I-“

He kisses you again, more hotly, more passionately and you
can’t stop a moan from coming up in your throat. As he pulls away, he nips your
bottom lip. “I’ll forgive you…after giving you a proper punishment when you’re
all better.”

Suddenly, you feel quite warm again, but know it has nothing
to do with your fever.