The Signs as Relaxing Sensations: Cancer - lying down in a warm bed
Midorima walked into the apartment without a word. He had had a long day at the hospital, and after taking the double shift Akashi had asked of him the day prior, he was utterly exhausted. His knees ached from being on his feet for so long, and reminded Midorima just how quickly his age was catching up to him. He was no longer the sixteen year old shooting guard he once was. He hadn't set foot on Shuutoku's campus, much less touched a basketball in what was soon to be fifteen years.
Much had changed since he graduated, he thought to himself as he loosened his tie with a quiet sigh. The realities of adulthood had long set in, and it had been none too pleasant. Not to say that it was awful or anything like that - it was simply tedious.
Pre-med and med school had been quite the mountain to climb, even for a man like Midorima Shintarou. But still, he'd done it, pulling all-nighters and studying meticulously for tests, completely ignoring what little social life he may have had. He'd completed the five year internship as required, and since then had been working harder than any doctor, save for Akashi perhaps, to make sure the patients he saw were treated to the best of the hospital's ability.
All the while, he'd moved out of his parents' home and started living alone until he, at some point, gained what he liked to call a permanent roommate.
Not all the changes had been bad, he thought, a smile tugging at his lips despite just how tired he was.
Placing his keys on the dining table as he passed it as softly as he could, he pushed open the slightly ajar door leading to the bedroom.
Takao lay on the left side of the bed, leaving ample room for Midorima to climb in beside him. The steady rise and fall of his shoulders told Midorima that his husband was fast asleep, and seeing him lie there so peacefully filled Midorima with a sense of contentedness and reassurance. Knowing that he could come home to this meant more than Takao could ever imagine, or more than Midorima himself would ever be willing to admit.
Stripping down to his underwear and deciding that he'd take a shower in the morning, he moved the covers as gently as he could as to not wake Takao, and slowly slid himself beside him. The bed was warm, as it always was when he came home late on nights like this. Takao seemed to generate enough heat for the both of them when he was sleeping alone, but that was a fact he never informed Takao of. On chilly nights like this, he liked to take advantage of this personal heater of his. His husband's warmth made his presence beside Midorima obvious, even if they weren't physically touching.
It was something that he'd recently come to associate the word 'home' with.
This was his home. Beside Takao.