Icarus and the Bird with Clipped Wings

by reminiscent-afterthought

[AU] Takuya makes it his mission to break the new kid's shell and make him spill his secrets. But shells have different purposes and he learns this one after a trip to the hospital where he meets the brother. And secrets have reasons too. This one's a case of them hiding in plain sight... which is hard to do with other tell-tale signs and trigger actions and failing to move on.

36. 36

Icarus and the Bird with Clipped Wings
36.

Takuya was surprisingly tactful… but that thought wasn't fair to Takuya, was it, when he knew so little.

Still, Kouji could appreciate the effort this time. Takuya didn't ask for an explanation of the previous afternoon. He just asked if it was okay to ask (and not even if he could ask), and had backed away at the first "no" and talked instead.

It was somehow comforting hearing Takuya talk about those softer, peaceful things while offering as much as he wanted to in exchange.

Maybe that was what had made Kouichi comfortable, in the beginning, as well. He never had been a great talker, and his teachers always said that was a shame because he was very good with his words.

And then Takuya had hit one of the nails. He hadn't meant to. He hadn't known and he probably still couldn't quite put it together. After all, most of Kouichi's body was hidden under the blankets. Takuya could see the wires and tubes, and the drips, and the machines, and the uneaten lunch, but he couldn't see the casts or bandages or scars or damaged bits of body held together.