/ A/N: A short drabble thing based off Episode 11 of K: Return of Kings. /
Saruhiko folded his arms across his chest, huffing loudly, his right leg suspended by a footstool as his wound was treated. In hindsight, he should have been more careful, and probably shouldn't have kept on moving on his leg whilst it was in that condition, but that was all irrelevant now.
He winced visibly, his face scrunching up as pain struck through him again. "Careful." he hissed bitterly.
"Sorry." was the blunt reply.
"Must you do that now?"
"Better now than letting it get infected, monkey." Misaki glared at him before returning to the task at hand - cleaning up the stab wound to Saru's leg. It wasn't the most appealing of tasks, but it had to be done, and sooner rather than later. He picked up a bottle of antiseptic and shook it roughly before giving Saruhiko a warning. "This is gonna sting a bit."
"Oh, what a surpri-" He began to complain, but was cut off as the spray made contact with the gash. The pain was intense, and caused a surprised gasp to pass his lips. "Misaki, you-"
"I said it would hurt!" he frowned at him, but thankfully for Saru the most painful bit was over. "Maybe you should be more careful next time."
"Screw you."
Misaki didn't respond to that, focusing on disinfecting the wound, but did allow himself to smirk at his response.
"Why am I letting you do this anyway? Shouldn't you get someone trained to do this?"
"You know anybody?"
"I'd prefer anyone over you."
Misaki stared at him, puffing his cheeks out childishly. "Rude."
Saruhiko smirked back at him. He was only partially telling the truth. In fact, he was somewhat glad that Misaki was comfortable enough to be near him for this long, never mind to be touching him, caring for him, holding some kind of compassion for him. Sometimes, most of the time, Saru got the impression that Misaki wanted nothing to do with him, wanted to forget him and all involvement he'd had in his life. Now, however, he was seeing that wasn't as true as he'd thought. He'd remembered everything. The recent memory of how eager Misaki had been for the two of them to fight side-by-side after so long said it all.
It was almost worth the pain striking through his leg.
"Almost done." Misaki informed him. Saruhiko watched him as he pulled out a roll of bandages from the first aid kit and began to wrap it around the gash, making an effort to be gentle and not to irritate the wound any further. He bit his lip, the sensitivity causing him to wince again. Misaki, too, was biting his lip in concentration, trying to bandage his leg as accurately and as painlessly as possible. Saru was tempted to point that out, but he felt that if he did he was at risk of having a rougher treatment as retaliation.
After what felt like no time, he'd finished dressing the wound. He tied off the bandage, cut off the excess, and sat back to admire his work. "There."
Saruhiko smirked at his proud expression. "Thank you, Nurse Yata."
His face immediately fell back into his perpetual frown. "Watch it, monkey."
"Will do." Saruhiko attempted to pull himself to his feet, but that proved to be more difficult than he thought. The pain was immense, still as brutal as it had been once he was first stabbed, and it took a lot of effort to get him to his feet.
Misaki turned, his eyes widening as he saw Saru standing up. "Sit back down, idiot!" He took his hands and helped him back to his seat "You need to rest yourself or else you won't recover."
"Jeez, fine." Saruhiko rolled his eyes and huffed. "...At least sit with me so I'm not bored."
Misaki glanced at him, and seeing the sincerity in his face, sat down with him. They were both quiet for a while, enjoying each other's company in silence, until Misaki finally spoke up.
"I missed fighting with you."
This statement hung in the air for a moment before he added: "It's fun fighting against you, but sometimes I miss us as a team, y'know?"
"Yeah." Saruhiko couldn't think of a proper response, but nodded anyway.
"You're really good." he continued. "You still are."
"Thank you."
They glanced at each other, and as their gazes met, they smiled at each other. Things might be different now, but that didn't matter. Not so deep down, they were the same now as they were back then.
