The man at reception had thrust a rag at Jounouchi's face. It was now clamped firmly over his nose, and was slowly darkening with blood. The scant few people in the waiting room were giving them a wide berth, but Kaiba was content to sit next to him, on the condition that he kept his bodily fluids to himself. (This had made Jounouchi laugh, and Kaiba had told him to not be such a child). Beneath him, the hard blue PVC seat was squeaking slightly as he tapped his foot in impatience. The clock on the wall had said half eight when they'd arrived. Now it was ten. He watched the thin red second hand, and wondered if Jounouchi would even be able to stand when the doctors were ready to assess his situation.

Why had he agreed to stay? Why would he want to do a good turn for someone who was, to him, at best an annoyance? Well, he'd reasoned, if he stayed, then Jounouchi would definitely owe him one later. And then for the few fleeting moments in which he had decided to stop lying to himself, the truth was that he felt very lonely. And he did not want to go home just yet. Jounouchi amused him.

"Sdop thad," Jounouchi said.

"Oh good, you're still conscious," Kaiba said. "Stop what?"

"Tappig your fud. Id's annoying."

Kaiba did not stop. Instead, as his irritation at being made to wait rose, he threw his gaze erratically around the room. It was long, narrow, with green and white linoleum. The tiles, Jounouchi had noted as he stared listlessly at the floor, were the same as in his kitchen, the same ones as he had repeatedly collapsed on, the same as he'd cracked his skull on when he was ten. And then again when he was thirteen. A row of seats lined each of the longer walls, alternating blue and orange, and Kaiba wondered if they made it so bright here in an effort to disguise the fact that it was in fact a hospital, and people did in fact die here. The walls were painted butter yellow. He did not like it.

Jounouchi wasn't feeling too good either, other than the fact that he was still seeping blood, this place put him on edge. The fluorescent lights droned; one of them flickered and sputtered occasionally. It made him feel sick. He'd been to the emergency department before. They always asked questions.

"Oh shid," Jounouchi said quietly. Kaiba tilted his head in his direction, an eyebrow quirked. "Whad do I say ib they asd me how I god like dis?"

"Say you fell down the stairs."

"I fell dowb de sdairs. Righd. Fell dowb de sdairs. I fell dowb de sdairs," he mumbled, trying to commit this to memory, "de sdairs punched me in de faze - fuck id!"

Kaiba shook his head and said, "You can't remember something for more than five minutes?"

"Cud me some slack, dick'edd, I'm incapasha - incabassa - incapashedaded!"

"You're mentally incapacitated…"

Jounouchi laughed.

"Fug you."

"Fuck you too," Kaiba said, smirking. "So what did happen to you, anyway?"

"I fell dowb de sdairs, dubass, we jusd wend through dat."

"You said something about being punched in the face…"

"None of your busidess."

A few seconds of quiet passed. They were now alone in the room. This was slightly overwhelming. Outside a siren wailed and flashing blue lights raced by the window.

"Was it… your dad?"

He'd heard rumours. More out of curiosity than really caring, he wanted to know the truth. But Jounouchi didn't say anything; he stared at his lap quietly. The silence dragged on for a little while.

"Alright, for God's sake, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Jounouchi was grinning again.

"You smile too much."

This only made his smile broader.

"Katsuya Jounouchi? We're ready for you now."

Jounouchi pushed himself to his feet, swayed a little, and then seemed to regain control of his body.

"You cad go hobe," he said thickly.

"I'll stay."

"Alrighd den, whaddever you wand," Jounouchi said, shrugging this off as though it wasn't a big deal, when actually it was kind of touching. But mostly really weird. Kaiba wasn't usually nice to him. Maybe nearly bleeding to death had made him more appealing.

"Hopefully you'll be able to actually speak when you're done," Kaiba quipped under his breath, but Jounouchi heard and sneered at him over his shoulder. He watched with mild interest as Jounouchi was led away by the nurse; he was tottering all over the place. Perhaps he truly would have died if Kaiba had left him in that alleyway.

It felt like the walls were pressing in on him, suffocating him, as he followed the nurse - that one bastion of safety and peace in this maze of hurt and bad memories. Jounouchi hated hospitals. He truly despised them. He'd been here a few times. None of them had brought him any comfort. Resigning himself to this at best potentially awkward situation, he trudged into the examination room after the nurse.

She gestured to the examination couch, which was a thin layer of black padding on a sturdy steel frame, and he sat nervously on the edge of it. He could feel his heart racing, and wondered if she would check his pulse and wonder what on earth was wrong with him. He felt very light headed. The edges of his vision were blurring and faded, and the door seemed a thousand miles away but he so longed to flee. His white-knuckle grip on the rag staunching his nosebleed tightened as she snapped on a pair of rubber gloves.

"Alright," she said, then she turned to look at him. She smiled warmly. The unease roaring in his belly seemed to be sated by this, just a little. "No need to be afraid, Jounouchi. Now let's have a look at your face."

He dragged his hands away from where they clutched at his nose and mouth, and let the rag drop to his lap. It was almost uniformly scarlet.

"Looks like the bleeding has almost stopped," she said, as she swabbed his other cuts with a turquoise liquid that hurt him. "So we'll clean this mess up, then fix your nose. No need to worry. You'll be fine."

He seriously doubted that.

Once she was done wiping the dirt and blood and saliva from his face, she discarded the various gauzes and cotton balls she had used, and tilted his chin slightly so she could get a better look at his nose. He quaked at the touch.

"So, it looks like you've got quite a bad fracture," she said quietly, as she leaned in. Then she placed two fingertips across the bridge of his nose and palpated the underlying flesh, gently. He screamed inwardly. "Does that hurt?"

"Mhm."

"Okay. I'm going to give you a local anaesthetic and then realign the bone pieces."

Jounouchi looked blank.

"Whad?"

"I'll give you an injection, to make it not hurt, and then put your bones back where they belong. Got it?"

He nodded. He did not watch as she prepared the needle, and tried to think of something else. So he thought of Kaiba. He didn't know if Kaiba had noticed but he'd accidentally got a little blood down the front of his school blazer, and the mental image of him sitting there stock-straight with a disgruntled, haughty look on his face while covered in blood spray was kind of funny, now that he thought about it.

And why was Kaiba waiting for him anyway? Idiot. He didn't need his help anyways, he could've walked himself to the hospital, and he sure as hell didn't need anybody waiting on him. Especially not Kaiba, who would probably use this against him someday. He hated him.

The sharp sting of the needle tore him back to reality, and suddenly he wanted Kaiba here to make sure he would be okay. He strangled this thought and buried it. It was embarrassing. And after a few minutes, he didn't feel even a twinge of pain, despite the fact that the nurse was jerking his nose this way and that. He didn't really feel anything, except for a strange calm that crept over him when he failed to try and not think of Kaiba.

Once she was satisfied that all was in its proper place, she removed her gloves and fetched a clipboard and forms from her work surface.

"Usually we don't have to do this," she said, and Jounouchi felt the dread descending on him, "but it's our responsibility to ensure that our patients are not in danger. So I'm going to ask you some questions, okay, Jounouchi?"

He just nodded.

"So… when did you receive these injuries?"

Jounouchi thought. "Five o'clock."

"And how long was it after you were injured that you arrived at the hospital?"

"Three hours."

"You were with another boy at the reception desk. Is that right?"

"Yeah," he said lowly.

"Is he a relative?"

"No. Classmate." Not friend, he thought in defiance.

"Okay," she said, jotting this all down. He guessed what was coming. "How did this happen to you, Jounouchi?" Bingo.

His heart pounded. He didn't want her to know the truth. A lot depended on this lie. "I fell down the stairs."

She nodded. "Go on."

"Well… I slipped on one of the top steps and I fell down. Just one flight. I have some bruises," he lied. The part about the bruises was actually true, but he sure as hell hadn't gotten them from falling. "So I went outside and started to walk to the hospital but I was kind of bleeding a lot… then Kaiba found me and… and he helped me get here." Help. He hated that word.

"And that took three hours?" She had an eyebrow raised. She was on to him.

"Um… I… yeah, because I - I think I might have passed out for a while? I don't really remember a lot."

"Did you hit your head?"

"I don't think so, I really can't remember, it doesn't hurt though."

She seemed satisfied by this. He felt elated; had she really believed him? "Alright. I'll write you a prescription for some painkillers, and antibiotics to keep your nose from getting infected," she said, and as she busied herself doing this, Jounouchi frowned. His father would take his prescription meds and sell them for money for drink and smokes. He knew that. She didn't.

She handed him the piece of paper and he left, following the corridors back to the waiting room. Kaiba was there. Still blood-flecked. Still antsy. Still a prick.

Kaiba stood. Walked to him.

"Are you going to go home?"

Jounouchi stared.

He hadn't wanted to think about that.