The dust finally settled around the pair, as the shaking finally stopped.
"Are you ok?" Hiiro asked his coworker.
A coughing came from next to him before a few small rocks were moved, "I'll be fine. You?"
A light blinded Emu as Hiiro pulled out his cellphone and turned on the flashlight mode. After a few seconds Hiiro responded, "Just a few scrapes." He shined the light on Emu before panicking, "Why did you say you were fine?"
Emu answered, "I said I will be fine, not that I am."
Hiiro shook his head and looked around their small cave before moving closer, "It looks sturdy enough for now, but when they start moving rubble off the building it might collapse further." He started ripping off strips of his shirt to wrap around the others injuries. "We need to control this bleeding or you won't make it that long."
Emu sighed as he realized, "I don't know if we have many openings for air. Just stay quiet and breathe slowly or neither of us will escape."
Hiiro tried calling their director a few times before giving up, "I think we'll be fine. I don't think I'm getting signal under this mess."
"If the earthquake hit the entire city, it'll take weeks for them to get through everything."
"We are trained to help in situations like these, so they might try to rescue us first," Hiiro said with a surprising amount of hope.
Emu just nodded as he leaned against the desk that managed to survive with them. He closed his eyes and soon fell unconscious.
Hiiro put his phone in low power mode before continuing to check the other doctor for injuries.
Hiiro finally drifted off to sleep but woke to Emu coughing.
"Are you ok?"
"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you," Emu answered when he finally got in some air.
"How did you know I was asleep?"
"You were snoring," Emu chuckled for a few seconds before clutching his side in pain.
"Hmm." Hiiro yawned. "How long have you been up?"
"About an hour," Emu answered.
"How do you feel?"
"I'll be fine, don't worry."
"That didn't answer the question," Hiiro snapped.
Emu stayed silent but pulled out the game system from his pocket. He flipped the switch on and analyzed it for damage.
Hiiro looked over at Emu's illuminated face which was specked with blood. He kept watching for the next hour until Emu's head slowly started to fall.
"Are you falling asleep or passing out?" Hiiro sighed.
Emu's head jolted up, "I'm awake."
Hiiro shook his head but pulled out his phone and tried to make calls again.
"Hello?" Hiiro finally got an answer.
"Are you ok?" Emu heard the surgeon talk, "Yeah he's with me but he's hurt. Ok. Yeah… you too."
"What's up?" Emu asked.
"I finally got ahold of my father. Apparently a bugster caused the earthquake, and only to the local hospitals." Hiiro continued knowing what Emu would ask, "Almost everyone is safe, there's a few nurses trapped but he's talked to them and they aren't severely injured."
"If the bugster is attacking hospitals, I wonder if Taiga is ok."
"I wish they'd hurry up, it's hot in here."
"Hot?" Emu questioned, "I'm freezing." He thought for a few moments, "I wonder if we used a finishing attack, if we could get through the rubble."
"We'd likely get more hurt if it brings things crashing down," Hiiro reminded. He pulled off his jacket before turning his phone light on again which once more blinded Emu. He held the jacket out, "Here."
"What?"
"You said you were freezing," Hiiro sighed. After watching Emu wrap himself up in it, he shut the light back off. About ten minutes later he heard Emu shivering, "Still not warm?"
"It helped a little bit."
Hiiro moved over to where he knew Emu was, "Lean against me for warmth."
Emu slightly tilted his body so his side was against Hiiro's. After a few more minutes of the pediatrician shivering Hiiro ordered, "Move away from the desk." Hiiro shined his screen light so it wasn't too blinding, and watched Emu slowly move. He got behind Emu, "Lean back." He wrapped his arms around the other.
"You don't have to do this," Emu argued.
"You're hurt. If your body doesn't stay up to a normal temperature, you'll get worse."
Emu sighed and rested his head back against Hiiro's chest. Once he warmed up a bit he fell asleep. Hiiro sighed as he moved one arm to slowly run his fingers through Emu's hair.
After a while the silence was broken by Emu muttering in his sleep, "Hiiro…"
"Hmm?" Hiiro responded noting how slow Emu's breathing was.
"…love you," Emu unconsciously nuzzled his head against the surgeon's chest.
Hiiro frowned in confusion before thinking back to signs that would prove it true. He hadn't thought far into his feelings before but found that he hoped that Emu really felt that way.
After a while they both woke to a ringing noise, "Hello? Ok." Hiiro clicked off his phone.
"They are going to try to get us out. We'll be safest if we henshin and stay near the desk."
Emu nodded and moved away from the other before placing his gashat into his driver. Within a few minutes some rubble and dust fell toward them making way for rays of sunshine. They both blinked at the sudden light but stood and climbed up once the hole was big enough.
"Where's the bugster?" Emu asked once he spotted Poppy.
"It disappeared."
Emu sighed as he looked around at the mess, "How is everyone?"
"The nurses that got trapped are fine and the patients are all in secured areas of the hospital," she assured.
"You need to get cleaned up," Hiiro told Emu before unmorphing.
Emu followed suit and started limping forward.
"Hey," Hiiro walked up, his facial expression softening, "you are going to need at least a few stitches, do you want some help?"
Emu gave a small smile, "thanks."
Hiiro put his arm around Emu and helped get him to CR.
Emu was resting on the couch, the medicine Hiiro gave him making him drowsy.
He bolted up when he felt shaking.
"It's the bugster," Poppy confirmed as she met his eyes.
He nodded and headed outside.
"You should be sleeping," Hiiro addressed the pediatrician.
"I couldn't let you have all the fun," Emu smirked.
They morphed and ran toward the bugster. The ground shook, knocking a nearby wall down.
Emu jumped up on a game block that appeared to prevent himself from getting hit as he watched Brave get caught up in the new disaster. He focused his attention to the bugster and quickly took it down. He rushed over and helped Poppy who had appeared and started moving the rubble.
"Hiiro?" Emu spoke to the unconscious figure after getting him out.
Hiiro started blinking slowly, his eyes having trouble focusing.
"I took care of the bugster. How are you feeling?"
Hiiro winced as he sat up, "The armor helped prevent a lot of the damage."
Emu rolled his eyes, "That didn't answer how you are feeling."
"You're one to talk," Hiiro answered before sighing, "sore."
"You might have broken something," Poppy assessed.
"It's your turn to get checked out," Emu helped him stand as they limped together back to the hospital.
"You have a broken wrist," Emu looked at the scans, "and it's your dominant hand, so you probably can't perform any surgeries for a couple months… but that is between you and the director." He started wrapping it up while he continued, "Other than that it's just a lot of bruising."
Hiiro nodded as he watched Emu slowly wrap the gauze around in circles. Finally, he looked back up when Emu was done, "Thank you."
Emu smiled, "I might not have broken anything but I got hurt worse than you did, so thank you for helping me." He blinked sleepily while he packed up the extra medical supplies, "I think the adrenaline from the fight is wearing off."
After thinking for a moment, Hiiro spoke up again, "Your place is kind of far, isn't it?"
Emu looked over confused but nodded.
"You look like you might pass out before you even make it there, do you want to come to my place? It's just a couple blocks."
Emu still looked puzzled before Hiiro spoke up again, "Just as friends, you know, for some rest."
"I don't want to intrude; you need to get rest too."
"It's not like I'm asking you over to sleep with you," Hiiro rushed out, "I mean unless you want to of course." He didn't realize what he was saying until the words were out of his mouth. He put his uninjured hand over his face and shook his head, "Nevermind, forget I said that." He stood and kept his eyes at the floor as he grabbed his jacket and started to head out of the room.
Emu softly caught his arm making him slightly jump in surprise. When he looked up, Emu could see how bright Hiiro's face had turned in his embarrassment.
"Hey, it's ok," Emu assured. He joked to lighten the mood, "Are you sure you didn't get hit in the head?"
Hiiro rolled his eyes but didn't move further out of the doorway so Emu continued, "I don't know if you were trying to tell me you like me, or what, but don't worry. You can tell me when you feel ready if you do feel that way, but if not that's fine too. If you really want me to, I'll come over. We could watch a movie or something?" He held himself up against the wall.
Hiiro sighed but agreed, "Yeah, that sounds good. I just don't want you to pass out in the street."
"Thanks," Emu's mouth turned up into a smile but his eyes still showed his exhaustion.
They walked slowly out of the hospital, both sore from their day's adventures.
"Want to rest a second?" Hiiro pointed at a bench. Emu nodded at sat down, followed by the surgeon. He took a moment before speaking again, his eyes focused on the ground in front of him, "When we were trapped, I was just trying to help keep you warm, as a friend and a doctor, but I realized that being close to you was actually really nice. It finally registered that I've been ignoring my full feelings for you."
He tensed a second when Emu leaned over and rested his head on Hiiro's shoulder. Emu whispered, "Sorry, medicine…really sleepy…"
"Come on," Hiiro helped him stand, "just a bit further."
Hiiro led him to his apartment, and opened the door. He led Emu to his room and then slid open a dresser drawer, "Do you think you can change by yourself?" Emu slowly nodded and took the clothing. Hiiro left the room and came back a few minutes later seeing Emu with the PJ pants on, one arm sticking through the shirt, and him hanging off the end of the bed asleep.
Hiiro shook his head, "Emu?" He sat him up and finished sliding the shirt on, avoiding hitting any injuries. He tried his best to position Emu better on the bed before he went and made himself food. After a shower he changed into some comfier clothes and laid down on the other side of his king sized bed, quickly falling to sleep.
They both woke to a phone ringing. Hiiro groaned as he picked up his phone, "Dad?" Emu blinked his eyes open and realized he was in Hiiro's bed. He stayed quiet until Hiiro hung up the phone, "Sorry, I didn't realize the sound was on."
"What time is it?" Emu wondered, "Am I late for work?"
Hiiro shook his head, "We are off today. It's a little after ten."
Emu yawned and moved to stretch out but winced as it pulled on his injuries. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to just pass out on you like that."
"That's why I wanted you to come here, so you didn't fall asleep in the middle of the street."
"Thank you, again," Emu mentioned quietly before remembering, "I definitely didn't mean to ignore what you said when we were sitting on the bench, I just could barely keep my eyes open."
"It's fine," Hiiro finally sat up, "I just had to get it out there."
Emu moved up to sit next to him, "I really like you, but I haven't been able to get the courage to tell you."
Hiiro grabbed Emu's hand and started gently rubbing circles into it with his thumb. He noticed, "Those bruises are going to keep getting darker."
"You have some bad ones too," Emu pointed to one on Hiiro's arm.
"At least we defeated the bugster before more people got hurt."
Emu nodded and brought them back to the topic of their feelings, "So what happens now?"
"You mentioned wanting to watch a movie right?" Hiiro reminded. "We can order some food and spend the day watching stuff? If you want to."
Emu smirked, "Are you asking me on a date?"
"A lazy day date?" Hiiro suggested.
Emu smiled, "Sounds great."