"Shin-chan, why are we taking this way?" Takao asked from the back of the rickshaw. Luck had smiled down on him today and it was Midorima's turn to pedal. The only drawback was that the taller boy tended to take weird routes whenever he was driving.
"The horoscope said to take the highway today, thus we are taking the longer way home." Midorima puffed. That last part probably had something to do with the fact that the long rode they were taking was mostly up hill.
"You can't let that thing control your life. Sure it gives good suggestions every now and then but what if one day it has you do something completely and totally ridicules, like wear a cat costume to school."
"I have done just that, and I'll have you know my luck was doubled by including the tail in the costume!"
Takao bit back his laughter as he tried to imagine his friend dressed like that, or worse, wearing that during a basketball game.
Midorima was about to say something that would probably hush Takao's, but he was interrupted by the sudden sensation of floating.
He wasn't sure what was happening all he knew was that he was off the bike and in the air. He was great-full for those two seconds because what followed was rolling and skidding on the concrete only to land in someone's lawn. He blinked trying to figure out what happened. It was a miracle that his glasses had stayed on. It allowed him to see the truck that had come to a stop by the now ruined bike.
That was when he remembered...
"Takao!"
The other boy was still in the road, flopped over on his stomach as if he were dead, and there was so much blood. Pieces of the rickshaw were stuck into him in various places, mostly his lower body.
Midorima wanted to move over to him but he couldn't.
Then Takao blinked and looked at him before he winced and started to scream, and scream, and scream. If you could call it screaming. The noise was high pitched, worse than nails on a chalk board. There weren't even tears coming from his eyes, but his face was twisted in pure agony. The screams became little spurts as he reach out towards Midorima as if he could stop the pain.
The crowd that was already starting to form because of the noise.
Takao continued to scream until he passed out. If not from the pain then the blood loss.
~.~.~.~.~
Somehow, Midorima was fine except for a few patches of road burn and deep bruising. He would be perfectly okay in a day or two.
His parents had arrived a little while ago and started to check him over and hug him, happy he was alive. They offered to take him home so he could rest, but he insisted on staying. The Takao's were sitting in the chair across from him crying and worrying over their son who was still in surgery.
He pulled out his phone to check his horoscope again. It still said the same thing about high roads and good lucks for him. He checked the Scorpios sign and found that Scorpios were to have good luck when paired with his sign.
It didn't make any since, especially since Takao was caring his scorpion key chain on his backpack.
"Happy Birthday!" the other teammates had said on their own time during "practice". When one of the regulars had a birthday, the whole team would take the time to celebrate it.
Aka, an excuse to eat cake.
"Here." Midorima handed the smaller player a small gift, which he hadn't taken the time to wrap. It was a small scorpion key-chain. "It's the Scorpios lucky item for this year." He explained.
The other players rolled their eyes and made some comment about his obsession with horoscopes. Takao on the other hand understood that this meant, "You do care!" He cheered, "And all this time you called me a nuisance."
"I don't..."
"Don't try and lie." Takao grinned again. "If you're giving me this then you obviously want me to have good luck for the rest of the year. I knew you didn't mean it when you told me to go die. You're such a tsundere" Takao would of hugged him but Midorima used his arm length to stop him from doing so.
By the time the third hour rolled by, a nurse had come out to inform them that things weren't looking that good. Even if he survived, he wouldn't make a full recovery.
Takao's mom started crying again. His dad was trying to be strong, keeping a straight face and comforting his wife.
"This is Kazunari's bag." Midorima said as he held said bag out to them. "I thought that you would want to give it to him when he gets out of surgery.
"Oh!" the mother said, "Thank you, you must be that Shin-chan person he's always talking about?" She managed to smile up at him despite her pain.
"Yes." He said simply.
She nodded unable to to say more.
A nurse came out again. "He's out a surgery!" she announced to the family. "He's still in recovery but we should be able to move him to a room soon. He's still asleep right now and might not be up for another hour or so. There are a few things we want you to be aware of. The doctor will explain it to you, but if you want we can go to a different room to talk."
"No, it's okay to do it here."
"Okay, he'll be out here in a few minutes."
When the doctor did come out he looked grim before he started to talk. "If he makes it through the night, he should live. The bad news is, there's a lot of damage from that wooden cart. Luckily most of the that damage was to the lower part of his body. Sadly because of said damage, he might not be able to walk..." he paused looking at the family.
The mother let out a choked gasp. The father ran his hands through his hair in what looked frustration.
Midorima's heart sank. Yes, it was good Takao was alive for the moment being, but knowing that he was barley hanging on and if he did make it, and that he wouldn't be able to walk, was too much.
"I'll send a nurse for you when we have a room for him. Unless you have any other questions, I'll take my leave."
"What are the odds of him being able to walk again?" The mother asked. "You said he might not be able to, so what are his odds."
"Thirty percent, maybe a little higher. It doesn't look good." The doctor confessed, "The muscles don't look like they're going to heal the right way. Worse comes to worse, once he's healed enough we can try another surgery, but it may do more damage than good."
An hour or two had passed by before a nurse came out to let them know that Takao had been moved to a room and was probably going to be waking up soon.
"I can take you to him if you want." She smiled pleasantly.
The Takao's nodded motioning to let Midorima know it was okay to follow.
When they got there Takao was still knocked out, both of his legs were in heavy cast, and an IV was hooked up to him. Other than the bruising and cuts that were being covered, he looked relatively healthy. He was a bit paler than Midorima would of liked but he had a feeling he would bounce back from this.
It was another thirty minutes before Takao's eyes lazily started to flutter open. He made a small noise as if in pain, probably because he tried to move his injured legs. His eye's popped open at that as he took in his surroundings.
"Shin-chan?" He called his voice still horse. It made since that he would. The last thing he probably remembered was the accident.
"I'm here." Midorima moved to be beside him.
"You're okay!" Takao grinned up at his friend, though he was still in a drugged hazed.
"Yeah." he gulped, "How are you feeling?"
"Tired." Takao winced when he moved, "My legs hurt a bit."
Midorima grasped Takao's hand tightly and smiled.
"Are you sure you're okay? You don't seem alright." Takao asked again, this time looking really concerned, and completely ignoring his parents at this point.
"Trust me, I'm fine." Takao tried to shift so he could sit up, but stopped when a searing pain coursed through his lower body. He let out a small yelp before he registered what had happened.
He looked down at his legs and sighed, "How bad is it?"
His parents explained everything to him.
Takao slumped back in his bed. "Well, there goes being able to play in the Winter Cup. Guess it's all up to you and the team Shin-chan." He smiled despite the situation, and Midorima almost cried.
"I think you should go home and rest." Midorima's mom spoke up.
"Y-yeah...I'll see you tomorrow."
Once he was far enough from the room he broke down. His mother moved to comfort him.
"It's going to be okay." she soothed, taking him into her arms.
When he got home he couldn't find a reason to leave his room, much less go to school. It was okay though. His mother said he could stay home for a few days. She would even drive him to the hospital to see Kazunari. The Takao's were considerate enough to tell the hospital staff that Midorima was allowed to see him.
He spent the next few days at Takao's bed side. The shorter male would talk as if nothing happened.
"Shin-chan, where's your lucky item?" Takao asked. "I just realized that you haven't had it with you the past few days."
"I don't look at my horoscope anymore." He said, not caring to explain how he felt it had betrayed him. He done everything that day. He'd tied his right shoe first; he'd purchased the lucky item for that day, and even Takao had a lucky item with him.
It didn't make since that this happened.
"Oh." was all Takao could say before he started talking about one of the many shows he'd been watching lately. They were mostly daytime drama, because those were the only channels the hospital had.
Midorima wasn't sure what to make of it. He was expecting Takao be be upset, or at least angry. Instead he seemed to be his normal hyper active self.
He didn't get it.
He'd felt so guilty about what happened.
Takao looked at him and smiled again. He mentioned how he was going to be able to go home soon.
"I'll be in a wheelchair, but at least I'll be home. The food here sucks. Do you thing my teachers are still gonna want that essay that was supposed to be due. My flash-drive got crushed and my only hard copy was ruined." He sighed, "I'll probably be able to recreate it anyways." He peered over at Midorima. "You're quieter than usual."
"I'm just glad your okay." Midorima said.
"Shin-chan!" Takao lunged the best he could at the other boy, hugging him around the neck. "I was worried about you too. The fact that you hardly have a scratch on you is a miracle. "
Midorima hugged him back. He told himself that it was so Takao didn't have to rest all of his weight on his injured legs. In reality he was glad to be able to hold him, and be able to know that he was real. He could feel his smaller frame shaking against him, but he could tell Takao was laughing. He sighed ruffling the his hair. The act earned a weird look from Takao.
"What?" Midorima asked.
"Nothing." Takao grinned.
~.~.~.~.~
Midorima was present when Takao was released from the hospital. They both spent the weekend together catching up on homework and classwork that had been sent over to them. None of it was major assignments. The teachers had taken pity on them only gave them what was necessary to understand what was going to on in class.
"Shin-chan?" Takao called.
"Yes?"
"Are you going right back to basketball practice when we go back to school?"
"Most likely." He didn't want to keep talking about it know that Takao may never be able to play again.
"I'll be there to cheer you on then!" Takao said without missing a beat.
~.~.~.~.~
He couldn't help but wonder if Takao was being strong for him. He knew that in the same situation he would blame himself. He should of just taken the normal route. He had no idea what he would do if he found out that his legs would probably never work again. He wouldn't want anything to do with him.
"Shin-chan!" Takao always sought him out after a game. "You were amazing!"
"Thanks." Midorima would give him a soft smile. He missed being able to play with Takao. He had to work on his compatibility with his other teammates and develop a playing style with them. It was easier with Takao. From the moment they met, they just meshed together.
More than basketball, he was missing that extra time they had together in general. Walking to practice, practice, the locker room, him having to drag Takao out of bed for early morning practice. He just missed being able to hang out with Takao all the time. Maybe if he quiet basketball he would have more time to spend with him. But there was no way he could give up on basketball, when Takao had so much faith in him. If anything he had to make sure to play his hardest, for Kazunari.
"Shin-chan, you're thinking to much again." Takao swatted at him. "I've been talking to you this whole time and you haven't even been slightly responsive!"
"It's nothing."
"Shin-chan's is such a crappy lair."
"I'm just really glad your okay." Midorima smiled softly at being able to tell part of the truth.
"I'm glad you're okay too." Takao smiled.
"Kazunari..." He had to kneel down in order to do what he wanted to do. He took Takao's hand in his. "I'll protect you from now on. It's my fault that this happened. So I'll make sure that they're aren't any repeats."
"Shin-chan?" Takao blushed, for once being the one caught off guard. Requadless he pulled his hands away so he could hug his friend. "I don't blame you. I could never blame you for this. I care for you too much Shin-chan. If anything I've been worried about you this whole time."
"Kazu..."
"I was really scared when I first woke up. I was really doped up on pain meds and I thought I was just hallucinating and that you died. I fine with anything as long as you're alive." He kissed his cheek softly. "Don't blame yourself."
Fin
I know it's an abrupt ending but this is the first time I wanted it to be that way. Also one of the drabbles in the midotaka drabbles is kind of an continuation of this, but you don't have to read it for this to make since and you don't have to read it to get this.
I actually started this last year. I hope you liked it ^^