.
.
This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit.
Shorter has got enough on his plate as it is — two critically injured men from the last street fight, one of the Lees casually mentioning a visit to Chinatown which will likely end up in needless trouble if they don't play their cards right, and Sing being left in his hands and insisting on getting mentored by him.
He wheels around the turn of this apartment's indoor staircase, seething, rattling the banister. Bones and Kong nervously put themselves between Ash's closed door and Shorter, waving their arms frantically.
"You can't just—"
"Fuck off!" Shorter bellows, planting a hand against Bones's skull and literally thrusting him out of his way. He kicks open the unlocked front door and barges inside, cursing up a storm. "Oi!"
One quick sweep from living area to the hallway, with none of the second-hand and threadbare furniture seeming jostled around or broken, Shorter can guess that there's been no raids or confrontations of any kind. He discovers noises like a mattress creaking and the padding of muted, socked footsteps coming from the bedroom further in this hideout. Shorter kicks open that door as well, clenching his fists.
"Why the hell aren't you answering my texts—!" Shorter's voice fades off, his blood running cold. Ash's face looks gaunt and paler than usual. Solemn. He's half dressed in his ripped, blue jeans, sitting next to their unconscious friend, Ash's fingers petting through dark curls. "—Eiji—!"
Shorter rushes over, gripping the sheet, his heart lurching to his throat. Eiji doesn't seem to hear him, thrashing a little on his back, deliriously moaning. His sweat-glistening eyelids quivering.
"What happened to him?! Is he okay!?" he blurts out, gazing to Ash.
"It's looking like that stomach flu Viper caught from Alex. He's been like this all morning and getting feverish," Ash replies quietly, continuing to stare down at Eiji with a semi-worried look, brushing the side of his thumb over Eiji's hairline. Shorter very rarely has seen Ash this gentle. To anyone. "Any water Eiji drinks just comes back up. The symptoms are getting more violent than before."
"Oh maaaan…" Shorter groans, falling to his knees and messing his hands through his purple mohawk. He watches as Ash's expression hardens. Like he normally is. The other boy carefully maneuvers himself away from the bed, picking up one of his oversized, white hoodies and shoving it over his head.
It makes sense… why Ash hasn't contacted anyone. Or bothered to glance at his messages. Ash's head gets fuzzy when it comes to Eiji, Shorter realizes once more. That's what happens with love.
(Even if they're both too goddamn stupid and deep into their feelings to admit it.)
"Could you watch him?" Ash speaks up, frowning. His green eyes squinting. "I need medicine."
"Definitely." Shorter's mouth curls into a haughty, wide grin. "You know I'd do anything for Eiji," he adds, snickering and clapping a hand over his exposed, muscular tricep in a proud gesture.
Weirdly enough, he means it. Eiji is his friend, and his best friend's sweetheart after all. True love? Soulmate? Yeah, whatever the fuck it is. He probably shouldn't have made those semi-offensive gay comments in the past, especially since Ash fearlessly declared his bisexuality to his men very recently and offered a challenge to anyone who had a problem with it to face him in an underground knife-fight for dominance.
Naturally, they all refused. Ash is Ash.
He's the boss.
Doesn't matter who he wants to be with.
"That's good…" Ash's hair glows sunshine-yellow as the eighteen-year-old passes him, digging a finger into his ear canal grumpily. "He needs a new kidney, too. Fresh one." As soon as Ash says this so suddenly, so nonchalantly, Shorter's dark sunglasses slide down the bridge of his nose. His eyes bugging out.
An astonished, panicking sound emerges out of Shorter's throat.
What in the HELL—
"Kidding," Ash tells him flatly. The corner of his mouth twitches upwards as the other man groans on the floor, legs sprawled out in front of Shorter as he scrubs his hands over his face and mutters.
The mood greys out, dulling, when Eiji whimpers, flushed and cringing, his sweat-stained, dark blue tee rucking up his abdomen. Ash's jaw grits. He pauses noticeably by the hallway's entrance while Shorter heaves himself onto the mattress's edge, right where Ash had been previously seated with Eiji.
"Hey, we know he doesn't look it, but… Eiji's tough." Shorter nods, beaming. "Nothing to it, yeah?"
Somehow, somehow this makes Ash's shoulders loosen from tension.
"… yeah," he echoes in a murmur. To his mounting reassurance, Shorter observes as Ash finally tears his emotion-drowning stare from Eiji and heads for the apartment's guarded front door.
What a punk.
He searches around for a towel and a bowl of lukewarm water, dabbing Eiji's forehead and his neck, checking his temperature occasionally and attempting to have a conversation with him. At one point, Eiji awakens to dry-heave loudly, hunching over his own lap as Shorter ttches and rubs his shoulders, verbally encouraging him to breathe through the weakened vomiting spell. It does pass.
Shorter grows more and more impatient, glancing at his wristwatch until he hears Ash return. "Geez, that was too long, dude," he complains, furrowing his eyebrows. "It's been three fuckin' hours."
"This wasn't easy to get," Ash says tonelessly, pulling out a silvery, collapsible stand with an attached hook and a full IV bag. A real one. May have smuggled it from a hospital supply closet for all he knows. Shorter gets up, not a fan of needles or syringes as a determined Ash hovers over Eiji.
"You sure you got what he needs, Ash?"
"Mm, it'll be a little bit until Eiji can keep down food and water, yeah. I know what I'm going."
And just like that, Ash ignores everything else around him and resumes the silent, protective guardian role. He clings onto Eiji's wrist and his limp hand, gathering Eiji's arm up against his sternum.
Hmmmmm… all of these obnoxious levels of pining gets Shorter's insides rumbling with hunger.
He raids the tiny, grease-stinking kitchen, mourning the sight of an empty refrigerator. There's a single solitary banana on the countertop. Shorter nibbles on it, wandering around, before peeking in on the two lovebirds. Eiji stirs, moaning and shuddering lightly, fluttering his black eyes open.
"Aslan…?"
"How're you feeling?" Ash whispers, his smile bright and full. So unlike anything Shorter thought he could ever see on his best friend's face. He wonders vaguely the kind of marriage ceremony they'd pick.
Eiji grinds the heel of his palm against his temple, scrunching his nose. Very cutely.
"Tired…"
Ash carefully sets down Eiji's other arm taped with the IV, getting comfortable. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere, Eiji," he announces, perking up an eyebrow slyly down on him, leaning over Eiji with both of his hands weighting beside the sides of Eiji's head. "You're stuck with me."
Shorter's lips quirk into an pleasantly entertained smile as Eiji hums lowly. "Forever… ss'right?"
"Couldn't get rid of me if you tried."
It feels like it happens slowly — Eiji's fingers reaching out, pale and unsteady, touching over Ash's nose and mouth until the other man sternly guides him away, draping the length of Eiji's arm over himself, resting his cheek onto Eiji's collarbone and pouting, trying to snuggle down with him.
They're so fucking stupid in love, Shorter thinks, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.
(Gotta get him something like that one day.)
.
.
Banana Fish isn't mine. EVERYTHING'S FINE. SHORTER IS ALIVE. EVERYBODY IS ALIVE WHO MATTERS. BUT I'M GONNA OFF SOME OF THEM,,, FOR REASONS. I literally just got to this fandom and I ain't leaving for shit. Nope. I don't care that the anime is over. I need more of everything. That's why I'm grateful for Banan Fish Fluff Week happening right this second! It's Day Two "Affection/Trust" and I guess I included both. I thought it would be fun to make it Shorter's perspective on Asheiji! He loves his friends and his friends when they are dorks in love. And I love Shorter. Okay so thanks for reading and any comments/thoughts are deeply appreciated!