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Tonight’s hospital trip should have been relatively normal. By all means, it had meant to turn out normal – Tsukasa travelling to the hospital my beloved sister Saki currently resided at, staying for a couple of hours beside her talking, acting out scenes, the whole routine, then going home. Simple, right? On a regular day for Tsukasa, it would be, however life just had a different plan for tonight.
Tsukasa walked through the bleak, white halls to his dear Saki’s ward for what felt like the thousandth time. If he couldn’t stand seeing the same old wallpaper and barely unique hallways everyday visiting his sister, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how poor Saki must feel looking at it after so many years.
“Oh, Saki… I’m so sorry you still need to stay in hospital after so long…” Tsukasa whispered under his breath, he could already feel tears about to spill thinking of her. Blinking away the tears, he started walking again down the last corridor to Saki’s room, getting halfway through the hallway until he felt a sudden force crash into his body from seemingly nowhere.
“Agh! What…” Tsukasa glanced down to whatever had crashed hard into him, eyes meeting with a mop of tangled purple hair on his chest and a thin, trembling figure connected to said tangled purple hair. A person dressed in a tear-stained hospital gown (which resembled Saki too much for his liking), no older than 16 or 17, struggling to lift their body off of Tsukasa’s.
“Hey!! Are you okay?? Do I need to get a nurse? A doctor?” The strange person’s head snapped up at Tsukasa’s questions, allowing him to get a better look at their appearance - terrified and pale, tears steadily flowing (that explains the tear-stained gown, at least), and their eyes… shining gold irises that could rival even Aphrodite’s beauty staring back at Tsukasa’s own sunset gold. They were bloodshot and glassy, but Tsukasa’s attention was almost entirely taken by them anyway.
The person, who had managed to pick themselves up at this point (barely, mind you, they had only gotten up off Tsukasa’s chest) was now struggling out of Tsukasa’s arms - if they were breathing quite heavily before, then they were full-on hyperventilating now. He finally snapped out of his daze and realised what was going on.
“LET GO OF ME!! ” They screamed, frightening Tsukasa to nearly loosen his hold on them.
‘What? Why-’
“FUCKING LET GO OF ME”
‘I can’t move my arms…’
“LET. LET ME GO!! PLEASE LET GO LET ME GO!!”
‘You’re in distress… I can’t move my arms. I’m sorry ’
“LET ME GO PLEASE- ” Their voice was cut off by sounds of muffled shouting and multiple sounds of loud footsteps running towards Tsukasa and the person from what sounded only a hallway away from the one they currently were in.
“AH! There he is! And is that you, Tenma-san?” The first nurse turned the corner of the hallway, spotting Tsukasa and the unknown patient in the middle of the corridor, jogging slightly towards them. He recognised her - Nurse Suzuki, who took care of Saki when her other nurse was away. Another nurse with a stretcher and a doctor turned the corner after Suzuki; Tsukasa could have sworn he heard more of them coming.
“Tenma-san, keep Kamishiro-san as still as you can please…” Her voice trailed off as she took an object from the doctor, which looked to be a needle filled with midazolam, and injected it into the soft inside of Kamishiro’s elbow. His trembling, glossy eyes started to tire and close, but Tsukasa could see Kamishiro was fighting to stay awake.
“No… no… ‘m… I don’t wanna… sleep…” Slurred speech spilled from Kamishiro’s dry lips, most of it unintelligible. His eyes drooped and more sorrowful tears began to fall - even though Tsukasa hadn’t known the boy for long, it was painful to see him in such a vulnerable and upset state. Perhaps it was because Kamishiro reminded him so much of Saki and her struggles. After unknown seconds of futile struggling, distressed whimpers and soft sobs later, Kamishiro finally succumbed to sleep; his eyelids shut tiredly and his previously quickened breathing went back to normal.
“Finally… Thank you so much for your help, Tenma-san. We really appreciate it.” Suzuki silently cheered a bit at being able to give Kamishiro some rest.
“Anytime, Suzuki-san, as a world future star, I must help anyone I can!!” Tsukasa made sure to not speak too loudly since, well, he’s in a hospital, and currently being used as a makeshift bed for the unconscious boy on his lap - he wouldn’t ever dare wake Kamishiro from sleeping so calmly after what he had just witnessed first-hand.
“Oh right! Could you do us a favour and put Kamishiro-san on the stretcher? Of course, you don’t have to, but since you’re holding him already…” Nurse Suzuki asked sheepishly, obviously feeling a bit guilty to ask Tsukasa to help them out like that.
“Eh? Oh… well, sure, Suzuki-san!! Hahaha!!” Tsukasa replied. Although he wasn’t too sure he should have agreed… ‘Agh!! Why did I agree to this… an unconscious boy I only just met like… an hour ago!! Being trusted to hold him and put him on that stretcher!? It doesn’t help that Kamishiro-san just had to be so gorgeous-’ Tsukasa shook his head roughly all of a sudden, Kamishiro’s messy hair shifting slightly. “Is something wrong, Tenma-san? Do you not want to help Kamishiro-san onto the stretcher after all?” Suzuki asked him with an expression that could only be read as weirded out (not like Tsukasa wasn’t used to that kind of expression…).
“ No! Don’t worry Suzuki-san, I want to help you all out, I just spaced out for a second!! Say, why don’t we get going… hehe…” Tsukasa trailed off nervously and started to pick Kamishiro up off the ground as safely and comfortably as he could - which proved quite difficult. Picking up a person 20cm taller than you does not make for the most safe or comfortable ride for you or said person.
‘Kamishiro may be taller than me, but he’s so light… Agh, damn, now I’m even more worried for him. Should I ask Suzuki-san about him?’ Tsukasa’s face was scrunched up with worry, at this point his expression is probably permanently worried. He managed to lift Kamishiro onto the stretcher - hopefully not accidentally hurting him in the process - and was about to bid his goodbyes to the nurses, head to Saki’s room finally and on the way purge his thoughts of how gorgeous Kamishiro was, when Suzuki caught his wrist before he could go.
“Tenma-san, please stay for a second! I know I just asked you to help us out with Kamishiro-san and the stretcher, but I would like to ask another favour of you.”
“Oh, okay? What is it then, Suzuki-san?”
“Well… I happened to notice when I first found you and Kamishiro-san, he wasn’t as violent as he usually is to us when he escapes his room without one of us accompanying him… so I was wondering… do you think you could come with us back to his room and maybe, uh… hold his hand? Or maybe just rest your hand on his arm?” Suzuki smiled sheepishly again at Tsukasa with guilt.
“W-what?? Suzuki-san… uh…” Tsukasa felt his face heating up again at the mention of holding Kamishiro’s hand while going to his room. Does Suzuki-san want him to die of embarrassment right now or what?
“You obviously don’t have to, Tenma-san!! I’m deeply sorry for such a selfish request of you, really. I just thought it might help from what I observed earlier… hehe…” She chuckled slightly; the collection of staff started to walk away from Tsukasa with Kamishiro, but something switched in his mind and he suddenly called out to them before they could get much further away.
“Wait!! I’ll help you if it helps Kamishiro-san.”
“Really?? Thank you, Tenma-san!! I appreciate your willingness to help us out again today!” Suzuki smiled softly and everyone resumed walking back to Kamishiro’s room. The other 2 staff that had come with Suzuki originally eventually left, leaving Tsukasa and Nurse Suzuki alone wheeling Kamishiro to the room.
“Say, Suzuki-san, forgive me if this question is inappropriate, but why exactly was Kamishiro-san so panicked and desperate to get away?” Tsukasa asked her. This question had been on his mind the entire time he’d entered this situation.
“I don’t think I should answer that myself, Tenma-san. That’s something Kamishiro-san should tell you of his own accord. However, I can tell you that he’s in this hospital because of health issues - both physical and mental - however I or the other doctor and nurse don’t help with his mental struggles.” Suzuki replied, her face grim with worry as she said those words.
“Ah, alright. Thank you anyway, Suzuki-san!! Ah-!” Tsukasa quickly shut his mouth - what if he’d just woke Kamishiro up with his (accidental) yelling? ‘Please don’t wake up because of me!! I’m so embarrassed, please don’t wake up because of me…’ He stared Kamishiro’s eyes down, hoping he wouldn’t suddenly open them and start panicking again (only this time on a stretcher).
Luckily, Kamishiro’s face didn’t move a muscle, except for an occasional grimace or tear slipping down his cheek. How could Tsukasa have not noticed he was having a nightmare yet, his whole job was keeping him calm! He decided to brush Kamishiro’s tears away tenderly and oh, his skin was so soft, feeling like smooth silk against Tsukasa’s own.
“He tends to silently cry in his sleep a lot, actually. To be honest, I feel like crying too when I see him having another nightmare… I can’t imagine how he feels during them.” Suzuki suddenly said.
“He gets nightmares frequently? Kamishiro-san…” Tsukasa whispered while looking down at Kamishiro lying on the stretcher - even if he looked calm on the outside to anyone else, Tsukasa could tell he was having a pretty bad nightmare from all the little signs Kamishiro was giving.
He’s had his fair share of people experiencing nightmares from staying with Saki into the night sometimes, when she had trouble falling asleep from her nightmares, until staff were forced to kick him out from his extended stay.
“Oh, Tenma-san, we’re here! You don’t have to stay with us anymore if you don’t want to.” Suzuki smiled at him sweetly and started to go into Kamishiro’s room, but Tsukasa had another idea in mind.
“Wait, Suzuki-san, maybe I should stay!! Because, well… y’know… I might be able to keep Kamishiro-san calm still, or help him when he wakes up eventually…?” Tsukasa avoided her gaze, wondering if he had accidentally overstepped a boundary or something else again.
“May as well, Tenma-san, since you’ve already come with us so far now. But didn’t you come here to see your sister Saki-chan again? She might be worried about you.”
“Don’t worry!! She’ll be able to survive without me for one night!! Hopefully…” Tsukasa replied.
“Hm. There’s no harm in leaving you with him I guess, I trust you won’t do anything; you come here so often that you’re one of the most known and trusted visitors in this hospital! Anyway, I’ll just finish setting Kamishiro-san up and hopefully he doesn’t wake up soon… he really needs that rest.” Suzuki said. She finished setting up Kamishiro finally and bid her goodbyes to Tsukasa.
Now it was just him and Kamishiro left in his room.
‘How awkward… I’ll just sit beside him I guess… I hope he doesn’t wake up while I’m here, I have literally no idea how he would react to me in his own room alone together. He’d probably react like I did…’ Tsukasa pulled a chair from a wall and sat next to Kamishiro, slipping his hand into his. Kamishiro fortunately didn’t stir.
Tsukasa suddenly felt sleepy finally being able to relax, but after everything that happened in - he checked the time quickly - an hour and a half?! Saki must be worried sick at this point!
“It’s been such a long time, I should really text Saki that I’m okay…” He pulled out his phone, dropping it in the process, blame that he didn’t think to take his hand out of Kamishiro’s beforehand. Tsukasa lent down from his chair to grab his phone off the floor when a slip of paper caught his eye - a patient information sheet on the end of Kamishiro’s bed.
He snatched the information sheet from its clip quietly, immediately looking for Kamishiro’s full name. “Rui, huh? That’s such a pretty name… Agh! Tsukasa! You just met him, you only know his full name because of an information sheet!” Tsukasa slapped his cheek softly trying to snap himself out of thinking altogether.
His eyelids were currently drooping hoping he would give into sleeping - a war Tsukasa had no chance of winning.
“I guess a small nap wouldn’t hurt… only for a few minutes…” He mumbled under his breath before his breathing matched that of Kam- Rui’s now calmer breathing.
Tsukasa didn’t realise that he hadn’t taken his hand out of Rui’s grip before he let himself rest.