|Liberation|

|Rated: T|

|SouRin|

Summary: While climbing higher on the national scale for his stroke, Sousuke finds himself at a wall. Admitting to his roommate was a simple task, but would going to the hospital be as easy for him? Would his new love be around the corner, in a hospital room?

(a/n) hey it's satiric again. my life is a horrible disaster yet i am still here writing fanfiction.

i am a loser.

enjoy!

Beads of sweat fell on the floor in drops, his arms constantly pulling up the barbell. Pumping iron 24/7 was paying off, Sousuke had gained to third place in the national scale for his stroke the week before. The weight had gone from 80kg, 90kg, to even 100kg at times, the bulk increasing over time. The time wasn't as long as you would think, though. It had only been around 3 weeks and he was increasing so quickly. He wasn't aware how dangerous this was for his health, so he kept going. Sousuke's maximum lift was 85kg around a month before, yet winning seemed to hit him like a spark. He desired to surpass everybody he could. It was the only way he was going to step out of this university, with a gold medal in hand.

There were things holding him back, everybody had obstacles. It made him ordinary. He didn't think of it as overtraining himself, he normally did kicks like this every now and then. Mostly he went up about 5 kilograms, yet now was excess. 20 kilograms in two weeks? That's too much, it almost made him upset. Sousuke wasn't progressing, and things like health and diet weren't parts of it. The poor boy thought he wasn't trying when he was trying way too much.

When he was informed that a younger swimmer in his same school was close to surpassing him, that's when he strode up to the extra twenty kilograms. There was no way in hell he was being beat by a damn freshman, he was too good for that. Maybe he needed to swim more instead of lifting weights? Just a few more lifts would probably be good for him. After that it would be off to the pool, depending on the time on the clock.

As he lifted the weight for the final rep, something sparked in his right side. A gruesome pain quickly flashing through his nerves, almost made him drop the dumbbell. His fingers that wrapped around the bar met with the palm of his hand and dug into the skin with force. It was to withstand the pain he had taken countless pills for, swiped shelves of healing spray for, and spent nights tearing up because it kept him awake. Some days it was light, today was average, yet he still thought it would go away over time. 'I'm not over-exercising. I can't be, this'll fade away.' He had broken down a couple of days before when the pain peaked, coming to the conclusion it wasn't going to weaken and fall out of his mind so quickly. Was it worth giving up now?

A tap on his shoulder threw him back into reality. "Sousuke, time to head back to dorms." A teammate was standing over his side, offering him a drink. "Did you hear about the soda machine? It keeps giving you two for the price of one!" The boy watched Sousuke pack his things into the gym bag and get up.

"I'll pass." He hadn't noticed how worn out Sousuke looked until he stood up, it looked like someone poured a bucket on him. There was no way he was bringing that up, that was invasive.

"Aw, really? You looked like you were training hard so I got you your favorite flavored water." With an eyebrow raised, Sousuke finally accepted the bottle, knowing that the younger student wouldn't give in until he accepted the drink. "Is it not part of your regimen?" It was actually meant as a joke.

"No, it's not actually." The confident overworked guy even plans his meals on point? It's like he lived on protein shakes and granola. Isn't such a controlled life so boring? Did Sousuke ever go out to eat? What would he do if he was out on the town one day? With his senses, he'd probably be strict or bring his own food. That'd be embarrassing, seeing a guy who lives off a piece of paper and powder mixed with milk. It was so unnatural. "I'll be heading back, thank you, Okomoto." He responded with a 'no problem' as Sousuke's back was turned to return to his room.

[Pain]

"Seijuro?" Upon entering the small apartment room, Sousuke called out for his roommate. "Are you home?" There was a simple note explaining his absence, and that was no problem, he just had the room to himself. With a groan, he removed his shirt, watching it get thrown into the corner. A quick pulse ran through his shoulder, the limb lightly making spasms as he tried to shake it off. It was probably time for his daily dosing of cooling healers, the liquid always froze his whole limb instead of making it feel better. It was better than feeling the pain, right?

He didn't have to worry when leaving a few cans of the spray around, all athletes get injuries and need something to help their pain. The excessive amount of it stashed in his side of the cabinet was the only thing he had to really concern about. Sousuke had around sixteen cans in there? Maybe more? He was overthinking it. "There's no way I'm breaking down like that ever again over a shoulder." Maybe this was a sign, that he should just spend the night to himself.

Grabbing a pizza place brochure, he figured that one meal off the regimen wouldn't kill him. Having a different meal for once would probably bring hope to his doubtful mind.

[Secretive]

The door squeaked open to see his roommate munching away on pizza on the couch, their eyes meeting as Sousuke lazily took another slice. The television lightly glowed the dark room up, the word 'Netflix' was being shined on the screen. "Hey." Seijuro threw off his jacket, landing on the gym bag next to the doorway.

"You got pizza…? May I have a slice?" Mikoshiba ambled to the couch where Sousuke was sitting to grab a piece. "This is delicious, but turn on some lights, man." Light flooded through the room as Sousuke covered his eyes in a grunt. "Oh, yeah, I needed to tell you something." Seijuro held the slice in his mouth, looking through his pocket for something. "What's this? I found it in the bathroom last night."

Corner Pharmacy

Cold Max Pain-Relief spray x6 ¥2100

10/9/14 16:54

"I understand buying two and stashing them for safe keeping, but what the heck?" Yamazaki remained expressionless, watching the horrible attempt of the older boy. It was fairly obvious to see his bruised shoulder with his shirt off of him. Still, he was standing to Mikoshiba's left. Seijuro couldn't see his right side.

"Are you trying to get something out of me?" Sousuke gave a lazy expression, showing off he was obviously tired.

"I'm your captain! I attention to my swimmers!" They barely even knew each other, all they did was react in the dorm room to get by. Both of them would label each other as acquaintances. Even though all Sousuke knew of him really was his name, stroke, and position on the national scale, he thought it was time to give into this. He gently waved his hand and moved his torso left, signaling for the coach to take a seat on the sofa. The normally quirky boy was serious, scooting to the end of the couch and leaving enough room for Sousuke to expose his bruised shoulder. Even from the angle, Seijuro could tell what type of injury it was and was caused it. "Over-exercising."

"There is no way in hell I'm working out too much."

"What weight are benching at highest currently?"

"One hundred…"

"What's your maximum weight normally?"

"Around eighty-"

"You should know how bad that is for you, going over your maximum like that could kill your shoulder completely." The injured boy didn't have the nerve to admit it had already broken down, yet he kept going, the opposite for what he should've been doing. At this point, he just wanted improvement, not crying in the shower and wasting money on chemicals that make him feel normal. He didn't even buy the spray to feel better, he just wanted some type of numbness. The sting of his nerve endings at night hurt, but he couldn't back down. "Who cares about a ranking when you could have a completely destroyed and unusable limb!?"

"It's still usable, Seijuro." It was fairly obvious that when he started going to a doctor about it, he would laugh it off. That was the type of person he was, it was fairly obvious.

"I've seen you struggle on your individual practices." There was no reason to watch him. "You should really go out to the hospital tomorrow, see the sports doctor." Seijuro got up, immediately munching on the pizza slice once again.

On the inside, Sousuke couldn't help but smile. This was the start of something, start of improvement for his self-worth. Even if this was unintended, it would've happened eventually.

[Liberation]

The alarm clock blared out 9pm, meaning things were starting to cool down. Dinners were complete, showers were over, and they started to lay around like blobs. Laying on the couch in leisure, Seijuro's eyes were buried into a Monthly Muscle Magazine, every once in a while looking over to his roommate on the bottom bunk. His right side was facing his captain, and he often looked over to see how bad it was. Lights in the room were dim, but he could see enough to feel bad for him.

[He did it to himself.]