Gravitation

Struggling Towards Normalcy

Chapter 2 – Awaken

By: C-Chan

 

Disclaimer: I wish I owned them…Ryuichi and Shuichi could sleep under my bed, and Yuki and K could sleep in the closet, and Hiro and Fujisaki could take my sister’s bed and Tohma could sleep with me!  But alas…the powers that be say it doesn’t belong to me and never will.  Such a sad, sad thing, ne?

 

 

            The call came at around 12:34 that night.  Hiro was getting ready to go to bed early, and was about to turn off the light when the phone rang.  Stumbling over to it because of his half-awake state, he answered with a groggy “Yeah?”

“Is this Nakano Hiroshi-san?” The other caller, a female, asked.

“Speaking.” Hiro replied, scratching the back of his head and stifling a yawn against his shoulder.

“Nakano-san, this is Hitoru Aya from the Tokyo Prefecture Hospital.  Do you know…” There was a pause on the line.  “…Shindou Shuichi and Yuki Eiri?”

            There was a twisting feeling in his stomach as he answered.  “Are…are they alright?  Did something happen?”

“…I suggest you come down to the hospital right away.” The woman replied, a hint of sadness in her voice.

            Hiro hung up the phone and stared at it for a few moments.  Gods, please let them be okay!  He mentally prayed as he threw on some clothes and ran out of his apartment.

 

 

            When he arrived, Fujisaki, K, Sakano, and Tohma, were all waiting in the waiting room.  He entered slowly and walked up to Fujisaki, who was the only one being quiet.  “Fujisaki-kun, what happened?” He asked, sitting down next to the 16-year-old.

            The keyboardist looked up at him, meeting his eyes.  “Shindou-san and Yuki-san were in a car accident earlier…that’s all we know right now.”

“Shindou-san is still in surgery.” Tohma added in his soft voice.

“S-Surgery?” Hiro repeated, shocked.

            The entire group fell into silence, the only noise being made by other people in the waiting area and the arrival of Mika, Noriko, and Ryuichi.  Even the child-man was oddly silent, hugging his beloved pink bunny to his chest.

            When 2:17 came around, the surgeon finally walked in, still wearing the scrubs he’d changed into for the surgery.  Tohma and Hiro were the first to approach him, asking simultaneously, “How are they?”

            The doctor motioned them back to the rest of the group, and he sat in an empty chair, resting his hands on his knees.  “Yuki-san’s injuries were minimal, and other than a dislocated shoulder and a few scratches on his face, he’s fine.” He explained in his monotone voice.

            Tohma sighed, relieved that his friend was fine.  But what about Shuichi?  “And Shindou-san?” He asked.

            The doctor paused, then closed his eyes, leaning back in the chair.  “The surgery was to repair his left knee, which was almost completely crushed during the impact.  He has a severe head and back injury, lacerations to his arms and face…whatever that boy did, he ended up getting the worse of it.”

            Everyone stared at the doctor, allowing the information he told them to sink in.  Finally, Hiro broke the silence.  “What do you mean…took the worse of it?”

“Shindou-san was found lying on top of Yuki-san in the front seat.  According to some witnesses, the car was swerving into oncoming traffic, so I figure he must have jumped out of his seat to try and steer the car out of the way.  If he hadn’t done that, Yuki-san would have certainly died, if not both did.”

            Hiro sat back in his chair, covering his face with his hand.  Shuichi had saved Yuki?  Why didn’t he find that weird?

“If you’ll excuse me, I have other patients to see.  If you have any more questions, the receptionist will show you where my office is.” The doctor said, standing up.

“Can we see them?” Hiro spoke up, causing the doctor to stop his leave.
”Of course.” He replied, going up to the receptionist and asking her to show them the rooms each patient was staying in.

 

            It was cold.  That’s the first thing he realized as he began to wake up.  Cold and…quiet?  Why wasn’t the TV blasting in the living room?  Why wasn’t music turned up to the max on Shuichi’s stereo?  Shifting slightly, Yuki winced as pain shot through his shoulder.  He opened his eyes slowly, then blinked.  Where was he?
”Eiri-san.” A soft, feminine voice said next to him.

            He turned to see Tohma sitting next to him, a look of pure relief on his face.  Next to him sat his sister and Tohma’s wife, Mika, with a similar expression.  Pausing before replying, Yuki took in his surroundings.  A white room, with machines beeping all around him, and one hooked up to him by two patches on his chest.  He was lying in a stiff and very uncomfortable bed, while IVs pushed saline and other chemicals into his body.  He took a deep breath and turned back to Tohma.  “What happened?”

“You were in a car accident.” Mika answered instead, turning a very convincing “Sister Stare” on her brother.  “You had us all worried!”

            Yuki snorted and settled back, closing his eyes.  Car accident?  He briefly recalled going out with Shuichi after he came home, but…oh, gods… “Shuichi!” The blond exclaimed, sitting up and ignoring the pain shooting through his body.

“Calm down, Eiri-san!” Tohma yelped, pushing his friend back down on the bed.  “You have to be wary of your shoulder!”

“Where is he?” The novelist growled, turning a piercing glare at the other blond man.

            Tohma hesitated before answering.  “He’s here…in a room down the hallway.”

“Is he okay?” The blond continued, glare still intact.

            The blond keyboardist was a bit surprised to hear the concern in Eiri’s icy tone.  Tohma only managed to shake his head.  “He just came out of surgery.”

            Yuki’s mask fell for a brief moment, showing every emotion raging through him; confusion, concern, nervousness, but just as quickly it fell back into place.  But his eyes betrayed the impassive look on his face.

“I’ll leave you two alone for a moment.” Mika suddenly said, fully aware of the look in Eiri’s eyes.  Patting her husband’s shoulder lovingly, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving the two blonds alone.

“They say you’ll make a full recovery.” Tohma whispered, lowering his head.

“What about Shuichi?” Yuki asked.

            Tohma hesitated, and Yuki’s heart twisted.  Was the brat okay?  Hell, knowing Shuichi he was probably wailing or babbling right about now.

“He…suffered a back and head injury…and the surgery he just came out of was to reconstruct his knee.  That’s all they’ve told us.”  Tohma explained softly.  “His band mates are visiting him right now.”

“I want to go see him.” Eiri said, sitting up slowly; the tone in his voice challenged Seguchi to challenge him.

           But challenge Tohma did.  “You should stay in bed, Eiri-san!  You’re recovering from a car accident!” He exclaimed, jumping up to stop his friend.  When it came to Eiri, Tohma was more concerned about him then anything else.

            Another death glare stopped Tohma in his tracks, and grudgingly he went out into the hallway to find a nurse and a wheelchair.  Yuki finally sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.  Shuichi…

 

            Everyone in Shuichi’s room turned as Yuki was rolled in by Tohma.  Yuki couldn’t see Shuichi, but by the looks on everyone’s faces, he had a feeling he didn’t look good.  Tohma made a silent motion for everyone to leave, allowing Yuki some time with Shuichi.  He waited until the door clicked shut behind him to turn and gaze at his lover.  What he saw made his heart clench.

            The singer was hooked up to an assortment of machines, monitoring his breathing and heart rate.  His face was pale and bruised, and tube down his throat was helping him with breathing.  A large bandage was wrapped around his head, the tiniest hint of blood staining just above his eyebrow.  Standing up and walking over shakily, Yuki sat down on the seat nearest the bed and grasped his hand with his free one, shocked at how cold it was.

“Baka.” He whispered affectionately, resting his forehead against the guardrail. 

            Tohma had gone into a few details on the way to Shuichi’s room, mostly about the accident.  He was shocked to hear that the pink-haired singer practically saved his life.  Squeezing the cold hand gently, Yuki raised his head a bit to look at Shuichi’s face.  “You better wake up.” He demanded softly, the icy tone he’d used on Tohma earlier still intact but slightly warmer.

            As if hearing the demands of the novelist Shuichi’s hand twitched slightly, his fingers weakly wrapping around the blonde’s slightly larger hand.  Yuki smiled lightly and rested his head on the guardrail again, giving into the exhaustion wracking his body.

 

~*~*~*~

 

            Days passed, and the novelist was released from the hospital; he never did really leave though.  He spent all day and almost all night by Shuichi’s side, his hand firmly grasped around the singer’s as he mumbled affectionate insults and demands.  But each went unheeded…until a week after the accident.

            After taking a short break to earn a much-needed dinner (and to stop Tohma from hounding him) he returned Shuichi’s room, only to find the singer’s eyes wide open filled with confusion.  Amethyst met gold, and the singer’s tense body relaxed a bit.  If the tube wasn’t still down his throat, he’d given Yuki one of his widest smiles.

            Yuki took his seat and reached through the guardrail to grab the singer’s hand.  The singer squeezed it with all the strength he could, tilting his head slightly to look at the novelist.  Yuki suppressed the flow of tears that threatened to fall.

“Baka.” Yuki whispered, smirking a bit.  “You lazy shit, you’ve been sleeping for a week.” He said in a warm-yet-icy tone; the tone he used only for Shuichi.

            Shuichi’s slowly nodded, squeezing the hand tighter.  His other hand weakly reached up to touch the tube.  Yuki saw this and nodded.  “I’ll find a doctor.”

            He practically ran out of the room and down to the receptionist, demanding she find the doctor immediately.  She was lucky—the surgeon that had worked on Shuichi was strolling down the hallway that moment.  Yuki turned his attention to him.  “Sensei, he’s awake.” He said.

“Oh?  I guess he’d like me to remove the tube.” The doctor replied with a smile, a bit too bright to Yuki’s liking.

            The blonde nodded and followed the doctor to Shuichi’s room.  He stood in the doorway as the doctor approached Shuichi’s bedside, greeting him with the same smile and pat on the shoulder.  “It’s good to see you awake, Shindou-san!  You gave us a quite a scare.”

            The singer nodded weakly again, pleading with his eyes to the doctor.  The doctor nodded back and began the steps to remove the tube.  “You’re quite a lucky young man,” the doctor commented, raising Shuichi’s bed just a bit.  “Considering if you hadn’t acted you and your friend would be dead.”

            He removed the tube quickly, immediately grabbing the pitcher of water from the nearby stand as the singer began to cough.  He helped Shuichi drink some and stepped back, still smiling.  “I’ll return in a bit to check on you.”

            The doctor nodded to Yuki before disappearing into the hallway.  Yuki approached Shuichi and sat down, a small smile on his lips.  The pink-headed singer turned his head to look at him and smiled.  “Yu-ki…” He whispered, his voice scratchy and dry.

“Baka.” Yuki replied, grinning.

“D-Daijou-bu…” Shuichi whispered, wincing as he attempted to switch his position.

“Hai.” The blonde replied, the sudden onset of tears back and stronger than before; one managed to slip past his defenses and down his cheek.

            Shuichi frowned and weakly moved his hand through the guardrail, resting just slightly above Yuki’s knee.  His pale fingers brushed against him, and Yuki immediately grasped it tightly.  “You scared me.” The novelist whispered, a few more tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Go-men.” Shuichi sighed, allowing his eyes to fall closed.  He felt very tired all of a sudden.

“Rest.  I’ll be right here.” Yuki said, rubbing his thumb gently over Shuichi’s knuckles.

            A small smile appeared on Shuichi’s face as he drifted off to sleep, his hand firmly grasping Yuki’s.

            Yuki waited until the singer’s breath evened, and let a shaky sigh out.  Gods, he’d never been so worried about someone in his entire life.  Just seeing Shuichi awake made his lingering tenseness fade immediately.  When the boy woke up and when they were alone again (He knew the doctor probably was going to call Hiro and Tohma right away, meaning Shuichi would have a good number of visitors), he’d scold him for that.

 

 

-----To Be Continued----