The atmosphere is different. From the moment he steps past the glass doors sliding noiselessly open, he is greeted by a blast of cool air from welcomed shade, and the stench of fear.
He picks up his speed, tries to contain his smile from stretching any wider from normal. Kalifa had come with him, and she matches his pace without question though he can feel her curious gaze stinging as it bore into the back of his baseball cap.
The nurses that scuttle by are polite as always, but this time, a shadow of uneasiness hides in the tremor of the click-clack of their heels. The doctors bustle by, lips pinched into straight lines.
He had to pause at the door and knock, it was only the polite thing to do after all, but he didn't bother waiting for an answer before heaving the door open.
Hattori coos, and Kaku can't help the grin that slits his face in two when he sees a shadow framed by light blasting in through the window.
"You could at least be nicer to the doctors who saved your life. I mean, looking at the way they're scampering around out there-" he breaks off.
Kalifa pushes the glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Finally. HQ was getting frazzled about deciding if they had to find a replacement after the third week that you were still unconscious."
He lets Kalifa rattle on about the details, filling in the gap of the time of what had happened, reporting their current status as agents and so on. Kaku follows along as she recites a perfectly rehearsed speech, picking at some details and adding them on to his own little database.
He snaps back to full attention as Kalifa ends with "The others will be pleased to hear about this."
She excuses herself by mentioning the need to pass on the news, but as she passes Kaku, he finds that her gaze is much more calculating than before when it rests on his still-present smile. He nods at her, and she nods back.
The door shuts.
Kaku tugs the edge of his cap over his eyes, strolls over the bed and sits down. The bed springs squeak. He remains as he is, appreciating the view of a bare muscular back, tousled curly hair that had grown longer in the time that he had been unconscious, the curve of a spine that leads down-
"Stop leering."
Kaku blinks. "I am not leering!"
"Kaku." His name is spoken like a statement that is supposed to mean something, a reassertion of a presence, testing the weight of the word on a tongue.
"Lucci." Kaku shoots back. He releases a breath he did not know that he had been holding. "I'm glad you're back."
"So am I."
A feral smile hardens on Lucci's face, and Kaku feels the tension in him uncoil into relief.
The wait had been worth it.