Between Rain and Sun
Chapter 1-Limits
Awareness seeped into him like a slowly filling pool. At first, Yuu could only hear an annoying, persistent, beeping. It leaked its way into his groggy mind, rousing it from a dusty sleep. His ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton, and his mouth didn't feel any better. It tasted like something had crawled into it and died. From how heavy his body seemed, Yuu wondered if that had indeed been the case. Testing his senses, his immediately realized Lavi was not next to him.
Heart beginning to race in panic—and that annoying beeping was speeding up, too—Yuu tried to snap his eyes open. Where was Lavi? He should have been there, in the bed with him. But his eyes couldn't open for some reason, and Yuu couldn't look around for him.
Forcing himself to calm down, Yuu decided to search for the man's scent. He wrinkled his nose immediately as the institutional, sterile smell assaulted his nose. Fighting the urge to sneeze, he realized something warm was in his hand, and something heavy was lying on his chest. The Japanese man relaxed immediately. Despite his strange position, Lavi was still there. Yuu took another breath, and this time, beneath the overpowering hospital stench, he could smell ink and paper. The corners of his mouth tried to tilt up in a tiny smile, though the muscles seemed so weak that even such a small feat was impossible. He took another breath, but something caught in his throat, and before he knew what was happening, he was hacking and spasming with a weakness he didn't like, tossing Lavi's head about with the rough movements of his chest.
The redhead sat up, leaving the cool, sterile air to attack the little patch of warmth where the man's face had been. Trying not to be frustrated at the lack of muscular control, Yuu pried his eyes open with no small effort. The first thing he saw was his lover, a sight he had missed, though he wasn't exactly sure why. All he remembered-his brain was just as fuzzy as his senses-was being separated from the man. Lavi was staring down in something like wonder, but something about his appearance made the Japanese man feel like he was seeing things strangely. Lavi was... wrong, for lack of a better word. Yuu's eyes felt weak and distorted, but Lavi was too pale, his eye too dull. His hair didn't shine with the healthy glow Yuu had grown accustomed to. Tiny freckles he'd never noticed before stood out in stark contrast against Lavi's skin. Even more concerning, though, was how thin the man looked. His face was gaunt, the skin stretched tightly against cheek and jawbones. Yuu moved his eyes from Lavi's face and tried to gaze down at their connected hands. Lavi's was lying on top of his, looking somewhat mangled and terribly skeletal.
"Yuu?" Lavi asked, sounding disbelieving. His tone had something deeper, something darker, beneath it, but Yuu's brain wasn't functioning properly, and he didn't understand what it was. "You're awake?"
The beeping noise was really annoying. It was probably the stupid rabbit being a stupid idiot, so he tried to swat his hand-failing-and cracked open his mouth, which was just as dry as it had been moments before. It was as if he hadn't had water for a very, very long time. "Rabi, stop beeping." It didn't even bother him that he had replied in Japanese-it was as if his tongue wouldn't let him speak English, as if he couldn't remember quite what the sounds were.
"You're eighteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds early," Lavi said, his voice hushed. His eye was still lit in wonder, and his voice reflected it. Yuu tried to smile, but his lips wouldn't turn upward. Stubbornly, he redoubled his efforts and was rewarded with a twitch, but no further movement could be made, and he quickly dropped the expression. It was tiring to keep up. He laughed at his own physical state, but that, too, came out rather lackluster, just a croaky shadow of what it had once been. Still, he needed to talk, to say something again, because Lavi was there, and tired as he was, he wanted to stay awake and enjoy any stolen moment he could.
"You would know the exact time," he replied, mumbling. The Japanese man proud of himself for sounding less raspy until a tiny cough bubbled up his throat.
Lavi's eye became very, very soft, and his blanched, clammy face mirrored the emotion. His hand twitched toward Yuu's, and a tiny flutter of something pained flew across his face. The Japanese man didn't know quite what it was-his brain was still too tired and noodly to be of much good-but guilt followed it, as did a sad droop in the air surrounding the redhead.
"I love you," Lavi whispered, and he sounded almost mournful, though Yuu knew that couldn't be right. There was something else at play. Obviously, the man wasn't well, that much could be seen, even with the weakest of eyes. And it had nothing to do with the beeping sound the man was still fucking making.
"Baka Usagi," Yuu said, his voice nearly catching. It didn't, though, and encouraged by his slight victory over his body, he attempted to raise his arm.
It was a huge mistake. The appendage felt like it was made from lead. The effort of raising it just a centimeter made his eyes almost droop, but he was determined to just... reach...
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Stop.
"You're still beeping."
There was something very important that he was supposed to grab, but it was out of sight, which was getting so blurry, more indistinct than it had been when he'd first awoken. And his arm was starting to weigh more heavily, as if a walrus had made its home atop it. Something elusive and green moved in the dimmest corner of his vision. That was what he was aiming for.
"That's the heart monitor, Yuu-chan, not me." The voice floated down to him, hitting him with such sweet relief that he almost forgot that he had to keep holding that damn walrus up. And maybe Tiedoll was sitting on the walrus, drawing something inconsequential, like a rowboat. Or that heart monitor thing that voice had just mentioned. Tiedoll would probably want to draw that. And if Tiedoll was there, that meant Marie was close behind, along with Miranda and Lolek and Daisya...
And they would all sit on the walrus that was on Yuu's arm, depending on him to hold it up, but he was just so...
"Tired..." It slipped out of his lips like a whispered afterthought. Yuu's eyes fell completely closed in the effort of keeping the artists and animals (Daisya was definitely an animal, as was the walrus) up so high.
"You'll wake up again, right?" The voice was speaking quickly, and its tone was almost worried. Was it afraid he'd drop everyone? His arm waved about, struggling with the immense weight. But he needed to answer; it was imperative. His hand found something warm, and it felt very much like a support, something to help him keep all of Tiedoll's fat (and the walrus) suspended. Something felt very right as his fingers laced with this support. But he still needed to answer.
"Of course." He barely comprehended the words as he said them. The voice seemed happy, though, even if it didn't say or do anything. He just knew it was happy, because whatever he said as he held his burden had made the air lighten a bit, though he didn't know how.
"Sleep well, then," the voice whispered. It was deep and content, if almost impossible to hear. And Yuu knew that he could let all the stupid idiots on his arm drop-even the walrus-because it was okay now.
Lavi.
Unbidden, the name came to his mind. He didn't know why.
"Aishiteru," he mumbled, because it was true. And then oblivion took him and the walrus and Tiedoll and Marie and Miranda and Lolek and Daisya and everyone into a blackness he had not truly seen in months.
Clarity was not an easy thing to find, but Yuu was bored of the dark, and he wanted to see something inexplicably red instead. So he clawed his way to the surface again, just because he was Yuu and that was what he did. He heard voices, very clear voices. One reminded him of orchids, and the other, the terrible, grinding noise that was overshadowing that beautiful sound, reminded him of... bean sprouts. And to top things off, that fucking mysterious beeping noise was still there.
That's when he realized what wasn't there. There was no rabbit-like voice in that conversation. There was no stupid rabbit there to talk with him, to notice that he had woken up and smile down at him because, after what was several attempts now, he couldn't get up. He decided to engage the two voices, see who exactly was in his room, so very, very close. But wait, perhaps he should actually open his eyes, to see just who these intruders were. Just in case.
It took a few attempts, but finally he was able to lift his lead-lined eyelids. His vision was still blurry, but not as bad as it had been the first time, and the haze disappeared after a few more seconds.
It was Lenalee. She was sitting next to his bed, her hand placed calmly over his. She was looking away from him, toward something white and annoying by the door.
"Lenalee, come on, he isn't going to wake up while we're gone! Lavi won't know we've gone and come back. Please, come with me." Yuu's vision cleared a little more, making it easier to see the owner of that God-awful voice.
"No, Allen, I promised Lavi that I would stay until he got back from physical therapy. I am not leaving. Go by yourself." Lenalee's voice was stern, and Yuu wanted to laugh at the Bean Sprout's downcast look, but his throat hurt. It hurt a lot, now that he thought about it.
Attempting to get the dark-haired girl's attention, he tried to say her name, but it came out as a cough.
Lenalee's head snapped to the left, her eyes meeting his and a huge smile blossoming on her face.
"Yuu-kun, you're awake again!" Her voice was filled with relief and joy, and it made Yuu want to smile back at her, but he was thrown into another coughing fit. "Do you want water? Allen, help me lift his head."
He wanted to protest, tell her that he didn't want Moyashi anywhere near him, that he could do it himself. But it seemed as though it had become, if possible, harder to move, and he was soon being jostled into position, with Lenalee holding a straw to his lips.
It would have been embarrassing, had he been able to move at all, but all he could feel at the moment was relief as cool water washed away the dry burning that had settled into his throat.
As Lenalee pulled the glass away, he took a breath and choked, coughing for another few minutes before it began to calm.
He felt Moyashi shift him so that he was sitting up against the pillows. Looking around, Yuu took in the small, white hospital room. There were flowers everywhere. Not that he disliked flowers, but it made the room seem like someone was dying, and the sheer number of outrageous bouquets hinted at a certain American girl's influence. There was another bed pushed up close to his, effectively putting Lenalee in a very squished position. But said girl did not seem to mind in the least. She just continued to smile at him with that same serene expression she had whenever everyone was gathered together for an Order party. Like she knew her whole family was safe, if only for those brief moments.
"Sorry about all this, Yuu-kun," she said, and though the smile on her face made her look anything but, the Japanese man knew the girl well enough to understand that she was simply too happy at the moment to not let it show. He had a nagging feeling he was the reason behind the happiness. He wouldn't admit it-he'd barely acknowledge it in the safety of his own mind-but it made him feel kind of warm to know that someone so... precious... to him loved him just as dearly. But she would never know that.
He tried to shrug in response, but his shoulders wouldn't move, weighed down by the same force that was enacting a toll on his eyelids. They were becoming heavy again, actually, and his head sank further into the pillow as he gave up his fight to lift it. He really wanted to stay awake so that he could continue feeling Lenalee's tiny hand keeping his own heavy appendage warm, so that he could watch his redheaded lover amble back into the room, so that he could regain his strength and beat the shit out of Moyashi for daring to touch him. But mostly so that he could look down at that serene smile and know that he had put it there, that someone besides Lavi cared about him enough to stay at his bedside. It was a strange feeling, something he'd never experienced before. Perhaps it was Mugen's effect on his mind, healing him like the Lotus Spell could not, like even Lavi could not.
There were some things that Lavi could not heal. There were bonds of friendship that needed to be formed, there were ways of life that no longer applied now that there was no longer a war. Yuu was not stupid. He knew that he was not well-educated and that his current temperament would not suit the modern world. He could no longer afford not to trust, not if he wanted to live a healthy life. And he did, because he knew that for the first time, there was so much ahead of him. And he'd never forgive himself if Lavi didn't live his life properly.
He felt incompetent, almost, like he was missing a great part of himself in his torturous past. It seemed strange to him now, after all the years of wishing to die, of fighting a war that seemed to never end, of never knowing that another life existed, that he now had to consider a life without all of that. He had a future now, something he had barely hoped for all those years ago, something that would have been out of reach that 115 years prior. He wanted to live-there was so much to live for-but right now that all could wait, because his eyes were closing, unable to keep up their fight against the relentless waves of sleep that seemed all too keen on taking him under.
He woke up a few more times after that, each at a different time of day, but the one constant about all of those moments was that Lavi was always there. It seemed as if the man didn't go anywhere, he just sat there and read, waiting for Yuu to wake up. So when he woke up on a morning a week after he had seen Lenalee, it was strange not having the redhead there by his bedside. It was even stranger to hear coughing and spluttering noises coming from the bathroom. He became concerned when Lavi walked out of the small room, looking green and shaking slightly.
The redhead looked over at the bed and saw that Yuu was awake, and the dark-haired man knew that something was wrong when the smile he received didn't reach Lavi's eye. Something was definitely wrong. Lavi walked over and sat himself down in the chair that had its permanent place next to his bed.
"Hey, Yuu-chan. You need anything?" It alarmed Yuu just how weak his voice sounded. It was rough and quiet as if it hurt to speak. He would have been thrilled with the shake of his head he managed to give in response, but he was too concerned as to why Lavi was sitting farther away than normal, not even touching the bed.
"Baka Usagi, what's wrong?" He was relieved when it didn't hurt to speak. Small mercies, he thought.
Lavi just grimaced a little and looked away, his dull green eye turned so far that Yuu couldn't see it from this angle. He tried to scowl, but the muscles controlling his eyebrows needed to be oiled.
"I'm fine," Lavi said, but he sounded tired. Using what very little strength he had at the moment, Yuu hefted himself forward, surprised when his efforts actually paid off. He made to touch his lover, but the man stepped back, panic beneath all the weary layers in his eye.
"Che. That's about as convincing as Moyashi saying he hates food. I'm too tired to deal with this, rabbit. Tell me," Yuu insisted. Though his voice was still rough sounding from both disuse and fatigue, the message was still clear. Reluctantly, the redhead looked at him once more.
"You know I have MRSA," Lavi stated. Yuu nodded, proud that he could do so at all, even if it was little more than a jerk of the head. "Well, that's leading to other infections. It's nothing horrible. At least I'm not coughing up blood anymore."
Something deep inside of him froze. He'd known about that, of course-Moyashi never shut up about it-but every time he heard how bad his lover's condition really was, it struck him full of dread, and all he could do was sit there, barely able to move, unable to help Lavi when the man needed him most.
It was that, Yuu thought, that was most annoying. His complete inability to be useful in any manner. He was almost a vegetable, barely managing to move even the most vital of body parts.
The door squeaked open, and the nurse bustled in, carrying a syringe. Next to him, Lavi cringed and grimaced slightly.
"Sorry, I took out the IV," the redhead said sheepishly, scratching absentmindedly at the angry red skin on the underside of his elbow. The nurse rolled her eyes, muttering something along the lines of "of course," and then hooked Lavi up again. "Must you add the pain meds?" The man asked warily as the nurse pulled out another, smaller syringe.
"Yes, unless you want to parade around physical therapy moaning like an ape," the nurse said. This was a frequent argument, Yuu had come to understand. Lavi said the pain medication messed with his head. Still, that didn't stop the Japanese man from forcing his lover to accept his doses whenever he was awake. Already, Lavi was looking over at him, a pleading expression on his face. Yuu sighed, shaking his head against the pillow. The redhead gave him a pout and turned to the nurse again. She took advantage of the situation, and moments later, Lavi was on his bed, an idiotic, rabbit-like smile on his face and his eye focused somewhere farther than the ceiling. The nurse turned to him, a determined expression on her face. Abruptly, the dark-haired man did not like where this was going.
"Alright, Mr. Kanda, I've been putting this off, since you never responded well to it when you were asleep, but I'm gonna need you to bear with me, okay?"
No, he really didn't like where this was going. "Whatever," he said, though inside he was panicking.
The nurse moved closer, standing on the left side of his bed, and began to draw the thin blanket he had down past his feet. The blue cotton hospital gown barely went past his knees, and it was awkward as well as cold, and his heart rate was spiking. He could tell because that fucking annoying beeping was getting faster.
"Mr. Kanda, you need to relax, all I'm going to do is massage your muscles. It will help you regain movement. It'll probably be sore, but it is for your own good." The young nurse was trying to keep her voice calm, but Yuu could hear the tiny little speck of frustration building.
Yuu knew there really was no rational explanation for the adrenaline pumping through his system; hadn't he just been telling himself that he needed to trust people now that the war was over? But he couldn't stop the sheer paranoia from overwhelming him. He was alone, Lavi was in a drugged-up stupor, he was unable to move, to defend himself. How could he trust this person he had only met a few days ago to just go about touching him?
"Mr. Kanda, calm down, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack! I'm not gonna hurt you. You have to let me do this, I won't overstep my bounds. I need you to tell me it's okay! Please, calm down." Perhaps it was her reassurances that she would not hurt him, that she would only touch him with his permission, that he finally began to calm.
He nodded to the young nurse, and she began to slowly knead at his legs, working out knots that he had never even felt there, feeling just how much of his hard-won muscle was actually gone from his extended sleep.
"You have a lot of muscle mass left for someone who has been in a coma for three months. You are remarkably well off. You should be on your feet in no time if you work at it." Yuu couldn't tell if those were just rehearsed lines that they were supposed to tell coma patients or if the tiny brunette girl actually meant it.
"You have a lot of scars. Oh, wow, do you have a lot!" The nurse exclaimed, reaching his upper calves. She had undoubtedly noticed the scars left over from fits of depression long passed.
"Che. Its not your business." The response was like rote to him, a mantra almost, for a past time. He didn't have to worry about people using his past against him anymore. But, still, some responses never died.
The nurse gave him a skeptical look but continued on in her work. After a half an hour she reached his arms. She stopped when she felt the old scars there.
"Mr. Kanda, are these scars from what I think? Because if they are, I think we need to have a talk."
Heaving a heavy sigh, because he had known this was going to happen, he looked the petite nurse in the eye.
"I stopped long ago, and I don't need help getting over it because I already am. And you're not one to scold seeing the shoddy way you hide your own bandages." The girl seemed shocked at the revelation.
Every time he had been awake, he had been watching the young nurse, because he still didn't trust her not to kill him in his sleep. But it became obvious just what the girl was doing to herself. Sometimes, he would catch her retying bandages or flinching when she hit a sensitive spot. He'd also seen traces of blood on her forearms, soaking through the fabric. He had also recognized the haunted look in her eyes, not quite like his own used to be, but still, there was a shadow there, a darkness from some long ago injustice she had suffered. That was all too clear.
The girl, who was now holding one of her wrists, as if she thought her fingers could hide the truth, looked at him coldly.
"Shut up, you have no idea. I... I... it isn't for attention so don't act like you know what's wrong." With all the accusation in her words, the tone was surprisingly even, no trace of anger, just words. Meant to scare people away. He had done that too, he realized, only he had been a better actor.
She was waiting for him to say something in return, waiting for him to lash out at her for the blatant accusation that he had cut himself for attention, even though she had seen the angle of the cuts on his arms. He knew her actions almost as well as he would have his own. So he would control his outbursts, mainly because it wouldn't help, but also because he was tired and didn't have Mugen to wave around.
"I see we have something in common then. You are correct. I don't know what's wrong, but I do know that if you talk about it, people can help," he said coolly, not wanting to provoke the girl. He was tired, he wanted her to leave, come back later when he was more interested in talking.
He wondered what was motivating him to want to help this girl. It was an irrational desire, something that could not benefit him, but he felt it was a good idea for him to aid her. He would have never offered to talk to someone about this before, with the exception of Artemis, but maybe that was something that had changed about him; with the spell gone, maybe this was the way he was supposed to feel.
His eyes felt heavy, but he turned to the girl again, only to see that she was gone. He knew she would be back later. Maybe she would talk to him, maybe not. It didn't really matter to him whether she helped herself or not, but he had offered his minimal assistance to someone, and that in itself was the important thing.
It was an undignified, Infernal Girl-esque squawk that brought him from the depths of his-for once, oddly pleasant-dreams. One second, he had been enjoying a dinner of bamboo shoots and barbequed rat liver (which, for some reason, had been quite tasty) next to his favorite rabbit, the next, he had been staring at a rather luridly-colored stuffed parrot. He tried to focus behind it, and what he saw shocked him almost as much as his first view of Lavi. Amanda, for her part, seemed no better. Her skin was at least tanned, probably from being out in the sun, but it didn't give off a healthy glow, and if Yuu looked closely-something he'd never admit to-he saw patchy sunburns running up and down whatever flesh she had left exposed. The right side of her face was still horribly scarred, but they had faded somewhat. Her eyes, on the other hand, carried bags so deep that Yuu wondered if she'd slept at all. The blue color seemed clouded, dulled somewhat, and the lids were puffed up and pinkish.
She had been crying, and no matter how big a fake smile she plastered on, the Japanese man was used to Lavi and could see through even the most convincing of expressions. During his coma-visit from Lavi, he knew that the idiotic ginger Irishman, Darcy, had broken it off with her. Amanda didn't seem like the type, especially at such a young age, but she still seemed devastated. It wouldn't surprise Yuu at all if she had actually loved the man. He knew their relationship had been more on the physical side, but he also knew that the Infernal Girl did not take sex lightly. She had probably meant every caress far more than Darcy had ever known.
He was a fool, really, to break up with her. The age difference, of course, was an issue, as was the distance, though Yuu supposed the Ark would take care of the latter.
"Get that thing out of my face, or I'll-"
"You'll what?" Amanda asked in mock-disdain, "run me through with Mugen? Yuu-san, you do know the Innocence is gone now, right? Or has all that time in your brain messed you up?" Thankfully, she took a step back, dropping the ornate parrot away from his face. It hit his blankets with a dull thump.
Yuu hadn't expected her to be so... like him. An asshole, that was what Lavi had called it before he'd known. But it wasn't like Amanda to be so rude, Infernal Girl though she was. Normally, she was rather like his lover, externally fun-loving and stupid but introverted and smart on the inside.
"It only messed me up as much as Darcy did you." It was a harsh come-back, but he didn't know what else to say, and she'd woken him up and made him angry. He scowled at her and then averted his gaze, deeming her unworthy of his attention, despite whatever offended retaliation she would offer him.
Lavi was always a sight that cheered him, though no one else would ever be privy to that information, even the redhead himself. Especially the redhead himself. Just like he was Lavi's sun, Lavi was his axis. Gravity pulled him toward the rabbit, and he revolved around it like one of those stupid doors Amanda was so fond of. Yuu's scowl deepened. That sounded stupid, sappy, and overly poetic, something that should not have originated from his mind. He erased the idea immediately.
And then he realized what was going on in the bed next to his.
The redhead's face was completely blank, a slate wiped of everything except objectivity. Yuu had seen that expression before, in Bookman and later in Lavi. It shouldn't have been there. Lavi's eye shouldn't have been so dull, his voice so monotone. Yuu could barely make out what he was saying-he was talking quietly, and Amanda's chatter was wearing both at his nerves and his ears.
"I don't see how this is your business, Doctor... go... have a massive amount of physical ther... fuck yourself."
That was all Yuu could hear, but that was enough. The young doctor had a clipboard in his hand and was taking notes on Lavi's responses, which didn't seem that unusual, but his piercing stare set off warning bells in the dark-haired man's head immediately.
He didn't know what made him do it, didn't know which factor had given him the strength, but adrenaline burst through his system, and with a swift movement of his arm, he wrenched the blanket from over himself. A quick roll to the side was enough to get his feet on the ground, and he'd taken two steps before his legs remembered that they didn't have enough muscle to promote such an action. They failed him mid-stride, and he went down, arm still outstretched, hitting the ground with a loud noise that he didn't like.
It was enough to get the psychiatrist to look over at him, enough for Lavi's objective mask to break and show both shock and a little bit of fear.
"Mr. Kanda, what are you-?" The psychiatrist asked, obviously stunned. From the floor, Yuu watched him push up what the Japanese man assumed were his reading glasses. And then his neck muscles, also weak from his three-month sleep, died on him, sending his forehead into the tiles.
Large, steady hands reached under his armpits, and Yuu could do nothing but glare at the young man as he lifted him bodily back onto his bed.
"Get out of this room," he hissed, anger still pulsing through him despite his wounded pride. The doctor looked taken aback.
"Excuse me?" He asked, adjusting his glasses again.
If he had had Mugen with him, blood would have been shed. But Yuu didn't, so he improvised, fisting his right hand and thrusting it forward with as much force as he could muster-which, granted, wasn't much, especially since he was still having trouble lifting the appendage-into the man's nose. He felt grim satisfaction when blood started to leak from the orifice. He just wished that he could have done better, but given the circumstances, he was in no position to complain. His pride wouldn't allow it, and even if it did, he'd never give this... this... psychiatrist the satisfaction of knowing how miserable every limit his weak muscles enforced made him.
"If you don't get out and leave him alone, I will find a way to kill you," Yuu growled, giving the psychiatrist what he hoped was his darkest, most serious expression. It was a hospital; he didn't have to be that inventive. Sharp objects littered the room, if one looked for them, and one "accidental" poke with a needle filled with what just "happened to be" too much sedative would do the deed nicely.
"I don't under-"
Yuu didn't want to hear it. "Get out, and stay out. You have no right to go poking into his life unless he asks you." Sparing a glance over at his lover, he noted the barest of shivers taking hold of Lavi's body and knew that this visit had not been the redhead's idea.
The psychiatrist turned tail and left, but Yuu knew he'd be back. Still, Lavi's grateful look broke through the subtle layers of fatigue and gave him enough energy to nod back.
"Way to stick it to the man!" Amanda yelled, but Yuu ignored it, because Lavi had gotten up from his bed and was walking over to him.
"My MRSA's gone," he said quietly, leaning down so that he could press their bodies together in what Yuu assumed was a hug but what turned out to be a mess of limbs. Still, Lavi's kiss on his cheek-and then his lips-made the anger melt away and disappear as if it had never been. He took hold of Lavi's hand, hating the flinch the action instilled and the pained look that stayed on his lover's face. He tried to release it, but the redhead wouldn't let him, curling his fingers around Yuu's as much as he could, given their limited range of motion. It reminded the Japanese man that the limits did not only apply to him; Lavi had them too. And they would both have them for the rest of their lives, though the limits would morph and change. For instance, he would someday regain the muscle mass he had lost, but his temperament would always be limited by what his father had done to him. No doubt, there would be a time when new limits appeared.
But far worse were Lavi's limits. Yuu was not stupid. He'd seen the man's face, and he'd seen the doctors', too. They had hope for him, but hard as the redhead tried, his fingers would do little more than crack and jump further out of alignment. He would never have full use of his hands again, and he would forever live with the pain of dislocation.
"What do you have now?" Yuu said in an attempt to banter, his voice matching Lavi's in volume. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amanda surreptitiously leave the room.
Lavi rolled his eye and smiled, but when he responded, his tone was serious. "I have pneumonia. The doctors have put me on all sorts of antibiotics, though, so besides some fatigue, I should be fine soon. They say it's 'cause the Akuma half destroyed my lung. Oh, and 'cause of the MRSA."
"...You have pneumonia? Lavi... that's..." He didn't know how to respond. To the best of his knowledge, most people with pneumonia died.
"I know it was bad back in the nineteenth century, Yuu, but it isn't now. I won't lie to you, though." Lavi's face dropped a bit. "I have a pretty serious infection. Er, MRSA-caused pneumonia is very deadly, but that's mostly to people on ventilators. The doctors have assured me I have a good chance of surviving. They're developing a special antibiotic down in the lab just for my specific case, so like I said, I should be fine." He flashed a smile, but Yuu wasn't convinced. Despite the weakness in his arms, he found the will to clench Lavi closer to him.
"If you die, I will kill you," he threatened, his voice barely a breath in his lover's ear.
"That doesn't make sense..." Lavi muttered, drifting off.
Yuu sighed and decided that the Infernal Girl and all the fucking doctors and problems and limits would have to wait. Right now, Lavi was in his arms for the first time since he'd woken up a week ago, and all he wanted to do was just savor the moment as they both fell back into sleep.
A/N: Yes, it is totally necessary to give Lavi more illnesses. Hospitals are breeding grounds for such infections, and with his immune system so low, he's not gonna have much tolerance against it. Trust us. On a completely different note, er, we have nothing else to say. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Look for more, though we don't know when we'll update again. School starts in just about a month, so regular updating should begin around then. Oh, and this chapter is for ainoche-because you have to work, we worked. ;)