Hey there! ready for the grand finale? here you go :3
Waking up was different this time. A soft voice was the first thing he heard. He was not in as much pain, but he felt like he wasn't completely awake, somehow all his senses seemed to be numbed.
Instead of dust and blood he smelled disinfectants. He opened his eyes and didn't see the darkness with one little ray of light that he had gotten used to, but bright sunlight shining in through a large window, reflecting on the white sheets, the white walls and the white ceiling, blinding him. He blinked a couple of times, took some deep breaths, moved his fingers, checking if everything was still in place, attached to him. A final wiggle of his toes convinced him that he could now take a look at his surroundings.
His hospital room was nothing more and nothing less than you could expect. An IV bag with a clear liquid was attached to his arm. Only than he turned his head to the left side and nearly jumped at the sight of his mother's worried face. His left eye was bandaged, and even though it had been her voice to wake him up, his, due to the load of painkillers, limited senses hadn't quite been able to tell him that he was not alone in the room. "Mama…", he said with a raspy voice. "Yamato, my baby", her eyes were filled with tears, "Are you thirsty?" Yamato nodded. She pushed a button on a remote control and his bed moved, sitting him up slowly. He emptied the glass she held to his lips quickly, eager to relieve his dry throat. There was some silence afterwards. Yamato was at a lack of words, for she looked like she was about to start crying any second or at the sound of any word, the last thing he wanted. He searched for words of comfort, however he couldn't come up with anything. He was still trying to think of something, when she finally, hesitantly raised her voice.
"Yamato, do you remember why you are in hospital?"
The question confused him. "Yes?" She exhaled audibly, looking somewhat relieved and somewhat in pain. "Oh my poor baby", she sobbed, "I am so sorry! So incredibly sorry!" That dazzled him even more. "Mum? Why are you apologizing?" "Because… Because I didn't do anything to save you!" She sobbed, "I wanted to, one more day and I would have gone to the bank and paid them…" Yamato used all his strength to lift his arm and silence her by gently laying his hand on hers. "It's ok" , he whispered, smiling his crooked smile. He knew she wasn't at fault. He knew she just wasn't strong enough to stand up against his father. She started crying and he did his best to comfort her by squeezing her hand and stroking it with his thumb, but the fatigue soon won over him. He did forgive her. She had been worried, she had cared, she was by his side, that was what mattered to him, it assured him that she still loved him. It felt like one stone was lifted of his chest, let him sink into a deep, healing slumber, so different from the medication induced sleep before.
Ren was fuming. Yankumi had waited for him, in front of his house, literally dragging him to school. Letting him shout and yell and struggle as much as he wanted, so he was not only annoyed and angry as hell but also really exhausted and a little bruised from the times when Yankumi had seen his tries to break free as worthy of a reaction. At some point a "WHY?" had been basically roared into her face, however she didn't even blink. As calm as she could be while fending a strong teenager of his age she just stated, that Yamato needed rest and his mother time to talk to him. As Yamato's life was not in danger anymore, she couldn't see any reason to let him skip school anyway.
He gave up. He didn't stand a chance. In no way did that mean that he forgave her. Yamato could rest just as well with him by his side, and after those days of constant worry and searching he didn't see how his mother, who had not done as much as raising her little finger to save her son, had any right to see Yamato before him. In addition he couldn't imagine how she would have more important things to talk to Yamato about than he did. This could basically change everything. If Yamato had been serious.
The second the school bell announced the end of the day he was out of the classroom, running all the way to the hospital, his lungs burning when he arrived. He didn't slow down though, taking two steps at a time, for he had too much energy stored up from one day of sitting in school and constantly staring at the clock on the wall.
He nearly ran into two nurses on the way down the corridor, mumbled apologies and rushed on. Now, there was the door with the right name tag, now he would see him, assure himself that Yamato was alive, touch him one more time, ask him, talk to him.
Ren stumbled into the room and froze, suddenly calm. Yamato looked so pale in this white bed under the big white duvet, pulled up to his chin, in this white room, with all his white bandages, but he breathed and his face was relaxed, not torn by pain like the last time he had held him in his arms, when even the unconsciousness couldn't free his face of the frown.
Step by step he tried to make it to the bed as silently as possible with his heavy boots, not wanting to wake the sleeping boy. He noticed how Yamato's face was half covered by thickly layered bandages – or was it swollen up that badly? He couldn't tell. The chair was placed at the side of the bed that Yamato could not see, so he picked it up, carefully carrying it to the other side, taking the seat. His hand was shaking when he reached out to caress Yamato's cheek, but it stilled when he felt the skin soft and warm, definitely alive. Ren couldn't help but smile. He started playing with the brown locks and just watch Yamato sleep, until the door opened about half an hour later and Honjou and Yankumi stepped in.
"Haaa? Ren, your fast!", Honjou exclaimed wide eyed. Ren only nodded. "Was he awake yet?, Yankumi asked. "Not since I'm here. Where are the other guys?" "Oh, since the sensei told us that not more than two people can visit him at a time, they are waiting in the foyer. We guessed that you would be here, but we wanted to have a look anyways." "Sou, ne. How about you get a coffee for yourself downstairs and we watch him for ten minutes, hm?" Honjou asked him. Ren reluctantly agreed. He knew that Honjou was Yamato's eldest friend, they knew each other since middle school, and he said that he only wanted ten minutes. Something hot to drink wouldn't harm him anyways, he noticed, as he rose from the chair and stretched his muscles. He would hate to miss the moment Yamato opened his eyes, so with the coffee in his hands he threw nervous glances at the clock, willing the ten minutes to pass, only half listening to Kurakis typical random stories.
Nothing had changed though, when he went back and Honjou left. Yankumi stayed for another hour, which annoyed him, especially because of her acting in the morning. He kept silent anyways, fully consumed by thoughts of the upcoming conversation with Yamato and what-if's considering the future.
When he saw Ren sitting on the chair next to him, he panicked. He had said it. Told him… Those words, he had sworn himself never to pronounce, in front of Ren at the least, but a week ago. He closed his eyes, fearing that his rapidly beeping heart monitor would wake Ren up any second. He tried to think clearly. What could happen, what to do, what to say? Hopefully he would just fall asleep before Ren woke up. His hopes vanished when he felt a hand hesitantly, carefully stroking his. 'Yamato?', Ren's voice was rough and he sounded tired.
Yamato opened his eyes, looking directly into Ren's, not avoiding his gaze. His condition was weak enough as it was, he didn't dare to let a waver in his mental strength show. Ren smiled, his whole body relaxing, as if a heavy weight had left his shoulders. 'Man, you had me scared to death! Don't ever do that again!', he playfully scolded. 'Didn't really plan that, you know…', Yamato rebuked much more at ease. The next words clumsily stumbled out of Ren's mouth: 'How are you?' Yamato furrowed his brow, not quite sure how to answer. 'Well… Fine, I guess. They have me on morphine. The doc said it will fade away eventually. How late is it anyway?' Ren fished his cellphone out of his pockets only to see the battery was empty. He showed it to Yamato with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders. 'Now idea. I forgot to check the battery. I've been here for a while, you know.' Yamato's heart sped up, to his embarrassment, the beeping of the monitor did, too. He cleared his throat, trying to ignore it. He didn't have enough energy to just rip out the cables and go on a rampage yet. This situation sucked. He was literally confined to his bed and his still drug-confused-mind just spat out the thoughts running through his head. 'How long have you been here?' was the thought that stumbled over his lips into the silence of the room, a second before his mind could catch them. Ren's face hardened. 'A while.' He said, then corrected himself to: 'I came here as soon as Yankumi would let me go. She dragged me to school, you know?' He started an angry rant, 'Something about your mother needing a talk with you. As if I didn't! And who is she to have the right to talk to you as soon as you wake up, when it was me who turned every freaking stone in this fucked up town to find you. When she had that shitty letter! She didn't do a thing to get you out of there, she didn't see you all covered in blood, she didn't see how…' Ren stopped suddenly noticing what he was saying, his eyes uncertain, full of the fear of having said too much. Yamato shook his head and let the silence linger for a while, trying to choose the right words. 'It's ok, you know. She is sorry and it… it is fine with me.' Adding a quick 'Really!' for Ren's expression was more than just a little doubtful. Another silence spread between them, an uneasy one, in which Ren had to accept that Yamato forgave his mother, which meant that he had to do so, too. 'Sooo…' Ren finally raised his voice, 'what do you remember of the last days? They said you might- I mean that you maybe-' 'I guess I remember pretty much everything.', He helped him out. ' I remember my words', Yamato had gotten to the point where he couldn't stand the tension anymore. If there friendship was going to end, it might as well end now. He just wanted to be over with it. 'Did you mean it?' Yamato gave Ren a glare: 'Sure!'
'So you love me?' 'Yes, for god's sake, do you want me to write it down? Goddammit!' He was so exhausted, he felt tears climbing into his eyes. He needed the other to say something, anything, he did not know if could brace himself for the answer any other time and with any less drugs in his body.
'Does that mean we're gay?' Ren asked so deeply in his thoughts, Yamato did not know whether to laugh or cry. He decided that enough was enough, if Ren wouldn't talk, which was unusual enough, he had to ask. 'Well, Are you?' That did the job of getting his former best friend back down to earth. 'I… I might be. Cause I like you. I guess. It's different, I don't know. It isn't a crush, not like it was with those girls. It's more like something churning in my stomach, that wont go away whenever I think of you.' Yamato smiled: 'That sounds like a bad case of diarrhoea.' 'Shut up asshole! How did you know, then?' Yamato smiled shyly, but he didn't see a reason not to tell him. 'I noticed it in 2nd grade. But I am sure since we're in one class.' 'So long?' Ren replied shocked, 'I just never thought about that stuff. I mean, we're two guys and… I don't know. But I guess…' Yamato kept silent waiting for Ren to find the words, to find out whether they were *gay* or not. He knew his friend could take some time to figure things out, always speaking half of the words rushing through his head out aloud. 'I mean it's weird. But Aneki would be ok with it, I guess. But what about… What if…' 'I don't care what my parent's think' He helped a little. That was when Ren turned his head toward him once more, glaring at him intensely. 'We're a couple then?'
Yamato felt dizzy as a heavy weight lifted of his chest, It felt like he could breath for the first time in month. 'I guess.' He whispered, he didn't dare to say anymore, fearing to lose the fight against his tears.
A soft hand carefully lifted his chin and he felt Ren's breath on his lips for a second before Ren stole his first kiss.
Wooohooo! That's it! My first multi chaptered Fic is finished, in english on top of that. I promised Philipp to mention him in *the credits*, for he endured hours and hours of me blabbering about the story and helped this fanfic to stay as logical as possible and kept the plot going at basically every turning point! Also my beloved Neechan for helping me finish this story (I had this chap written at least a month ago, only the last 600 words missing, but I just couldn't get myself to finish it).
And last but not least for all the lovely reviews! I don't quite know how to reply, but they always make my day! Thank you for your patience and I really hope you enjoyed it!
Cheers,
Scy
