Author's Note: Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...
My bleary eyes open to the familiar sensation of fine warmth and steady breathing, backed by a high-pitched beep sounding once per half-second.
This world is unfamiliar. These lights are bright. And yet, I find myself familiar with this peculiar calidity invading my body.
For a moment, I keep my blurred gaze settled on the ceiling, barely acknowledging the light pain which thrums through my body. It's hardly there; I'm much too lightheaded to pay it any mind.
This heat, however…
Familiarity lifts the speed of my heat by a notch as I turn my head to the source.
Lost in his own dreams, he is undisturbed by the subtle shift; raising my curiosity with that tranquil expression on his sleeping face.
He is beautiful, and for once in my life I am unafraid. Instead, I am welcoming of this ethereal contact. Welcoming of this familiar person with a comforting touch. Soft, sun kissed skin. Blond tresses falling into closed eyes - of which I do not know the color. Still, there is trust here. In this moment.
I must be dreaming.
And screw it all, I would be contented to never wake up.
Just don't leave me…
Shifting slightly, he has my heart skipping beats when his long arm hooks around my waist. Though I quickly find comfort in this change; taking what I can of this immaculate specimen's heated embrace.
Who are you? And why does it feel like I have known you for all my life?
"Come on, Izaya… You're doing great."
"He's almost there."
"You've got this… Wake up."
"Give him a minute."
"I know, I know. But he's so close, Shinra. I don't want him to stop trying…"
"I understand. Don't forget how tough this has been. For him. For you. All of us. He's been fighting hard."
"It's been so long… I can't lose him again."
"Trust me, Shizuo. I know."
Lose me…? Shizuo…?
Shizuo!
Shizu-chan!
Recognizing that name - that voice - my attention turns to the figure in question. Do I find myself dreaming yet again? Or is this as real has the warm hand that takes mine?
Surely, the gentle caress of lips across my forehead is imaginary.
I let him go. Why would he ever come back to me?
Opening my eyes slowly, I can only be instantaneously left breathless by the radiant gleam in a pair of supernova eyes brimming with tears. Tears for me. Tears I do not deserve. For all that I've done… All that I am.
He pulls me into his warm, inviting arms, damn near stopping my heart as I am lifted from sterile blankets and sheets - as if I deserve to be held in such a way.
"Shizuo," a stern voice takes over.
Leave it to Shinra to remind us.
Shizuo lays me down gently, muttering a soft apology as he takes a seat in the chair beside the bed.
My head feels like it's clogged. With what I do not know. But the minute we break contact, it dawns on me that I feel like shit.
"Ggguh…" the truth to my discomfort escapes through a subtle groan.
"Yeah," the doctor responds, stepping up beside Shizuo. He's scribbling some nonsense on a clipboard. "You're going to feel like that for the next few weeks. Luckily, the worst of it is over, and you're going to be alright."
Glancing at Shizuo, I wonder what the hell the nerd is rambling on about. Nothing makes sense. I'm hearing him loud and clear; yet I don't understand.
"Shinra, I don't think he knows what you're talking about…" the blond reads me, never taking his eyes away from mine.
"Izaya," my friend takes on a professional attitude for once in his life, "What is the last thing you remember…?"
Thinking hard through the weight in my aching head, I try my best to remember, realizing somewhere along the lines that a meeting with a ruby-eyed boy probably isn't the answer he's looking for. Before that. What happened before?
"Ngh… I… I remember rain," I whisper, surprising myself with the weakness of my own voice.
"Good. What else?"
"Pain… My hand…"
Attempting to curl said hand into a fist, I realize that indeed it is broken and bandaged when it refuses to move.
"Do you remember who did it? Who hurt you?"
"N-no…" I breathe, clamping my eyes shut in response to a new form of pressure in my head.
"Well, as strange as it is to say, you're lucky he did."
"Lucky?" I echo meekly, "You can't be serious…? Shizu-chan…"
"He's right," the blond sighs.
"The doctor you went to for your migraines is an idiot," Shinra snorts. "He didn't notice the blotch on your brain scan."
"Blotch…?"
"Yeah. The real reason for your migraines…" Shizuo says, brushing his thumb across the knuckles of my good left hand.
"Turns out it wasn't Shizuo's fault at all," beneath his calm, smiling exterior, I can tell that Shinra is seething beneath the surface. "A competent doctor would have noticed it right away. The cause of your migraines has been a small tumor, about the size of a jelly bean, resting on the right side of your brain. The hit you took cracked your skull. Thanks to that, your surgeon found the tumor before it could become life threatening. It's gone now, and you're recovering well. In a few weeks, you're going to be fine, Izaya."
"Y-you mean…?"
"No more migraines," Shizuo smiles brightly.
Swallowing the news, I feel that it is going to take some time for the shock to fully settle in. However, the relief flows through me almost immediately.
"How long…?" I ask for my own curiosity. "How long have I been out?"
"Almost two weeks," Shizuo answers, "It's May seventh…"
I frown, suddenly feeling my heart drop just slightly. "Ngh…"
"What's wrong?"
"I... missed my birthday..."
The blond chuckles softly. "You did... but we didn't. Look around you."
