Written on 6/9/2014 for stephanericher on tumblr for the AU ficlet meme:

35. one of them trying to get the other one off of drugs au

Tatsuya is one of Shuuzou's more… difficult cases.

He's checked in by a guy who calls himself his brother; well, Shuuzou can't see any resemblance between them when he looks at the guy, but that's what the big red-head says, and he's not going to argue with him. Tatsuya's been in and out of rehab for years, according to Taiga.

"Don't give him any female nurses," he says to Shuuzou. "He convinces them he's ready to go when he isn't."

Shuuzou can see why it keeps happening; even with the sickly pallor of his skin, and the sweating and the deep, bruise-like circles under his eyes, Tatsuya is beautiful, and female nurses clamor to get a look at him.

"I don't have a problem," is the first thing Tatsuya says to Shuuzou when big red leaves.

"Sure," Shuuzou tells him, because the kid's gotta be dreaming if he thinks he's the first person to tell him that he doesn't have a problem even when he's shaking through his withdrawal symptoms. "If you don't have a problem, then spending some time here shouldn't be too hard for you."

Tatsuya's prone to throwing punches when he's going through a particularly nasty stage of withdrawal (he gets Shuuzou good the first time, because big red neglected to mention he's violent, and he wasn't ready. Shuuzou red flags his case file for it), and he refuses to speak to his counsellor. He speaks to the female nurses as they walk past to try and win them into getting his case out of Shuuzou's hands, and they flutter in his wake.

"What's your damage?" Shuuzou asks one afternoon while he's taking Tatsuya back to his room.

Tatsuya's smile is sharp and cutting as he looks at Shuuzou from the corner of his eye and asks, "What's yours?"

Strictly speaking, he's not supposed to get too attached to the patients, but he slips up when he catches Tatsuya watching a basketball game on one of the TVs. At the time, he'd thought that maybe a connection would be more helpful to Tatsuya's case.

"You interested in basketball?"

Tatsuya looks at him. "Are you?"

"I played when I was a kid."

Tatsuya nods to himself. "Me too."

And that was where it all started to go downhill.

Tatsuya still won't talk to his counsellor, but he talks to Shuuzou sometimes. It's nothing substantial; bits and pieces, fragments that mean nothing, but it's more than he gives to anyone else. Shuuzou talks to him too, about his dad and his family and friends, and about his work, about how he moved here when he was a teenager and the struggles of the migration. Tatsuya always smiles a little bit more honestly when Shuuzou tells him stories from his life, and every smile he gets seems to steal a part of him away. Shuuzou always asks to hear Tatsuya's stories, but he never shares - he deflects and asks Shuuzou about how his friends and siblings are instead.

Of course, they can't keep him forever, especially if he's not getting anywhere; there are places here for people who want to be here, and Shuuzou calls Tatsuya's brother the day before they kick him out.

Taiga sounds desperate when he asks if there's any way they can keep him, but Shuuzou's already out of options; he's done everything he could to keep him in as long as possible already.

He's going to kill himself, is all Shuuzou can think as he watches Tatsuya leave.

Tatsuya shows up six months later, and he checks himself in.

"I don't have a problem," he says, and he smiles at Shuuzou.