He wasn't able to think straight, his tongue felt thick in his mouth and he struggled to put together a single thought that made sense. But he knew that he had a big problem if he couldn't put more than a few thoughts together.

"Hey," Someone was snapping their fingers in front of his eyes. He groggily looked up at the person," Can you hear me?"

He wouldn't have nodded his head if he knew it would have upset his stomach so much.

"Shit," Wrath held up Black as he puked his guts out on the cement floor. The boy was shivering in his hands and looked like he was barely conscious. He pulled off Blacks beanie and unzipped his hoodie in an attempt to help him breathe. Black coughed and groaned as he leaned against Wraths arm. Honestly, Wrath was amazed that he still had enough motor skills to raise his arm to wipe his mouth.

"What happened to him?" He looked over at the owner, who was leaning against the doorway as Black shuttered and shivered in his hands. The balding man was looking on with impassive eyes as he smoked what looked to be a joint.

Wrath leaned Black against the wall when he finished and pulled open his eyes to look at his pupils, he was talking as he looked at Black's eyes." Some assholes ambushed him in here, he managed to fight them off but they smashed his head against the sink before I was able to help." Had it been any other time, he would have pondered on the way Black was wearing contact lenses that had gotten misaligned during the struggle, letting him see the dazed, bright blue eyes behind the lenses.

The owner let out an impressed whistle in response," Kid probably has a concussion, might need to take him to the hospital." Wrath clicked his tongue in annoyance when he realized that he was right. His pupils were uneven and the kid had blood dripping down the side of his face. At best, he had a bad concussion, at worst, he had a severe concussion along with a fractured skull. Both of which were concerning.

He sighed in defeat, "Okay, up we go," He pulled Black to his feet, something that the boy wasn't able to help with since he was like a ragdoll. He pulled Black's arm over his shoulder and once the owner handed their bags over to him, they were on their way to the hospital.

It was fortunate that Black was so small because they had a very long walk to the hospital. It would take them maybe an hour to get there.

"Wherrr' are we goinnn'?" He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the slurred voice of his rival. He thought Black was unconscious since a concussion tends to do that.

"Hospital," He adjusted his grip on the smaller man as they continued walking," You took a bad hit man, I want to make sure that you're okay."

"Oh…" Black's head drooped down and he slumped against Wrath again. Wrath rolled his eyes and continued to lead Black to the hospital.

It was certainly awkward, explaining to the hospital staff that he didn't know Blacks real name, he didn't know where he lived, and he didn't know if he had emergency contacts. The only thing he could do was make up some story about him hearing a fight while on the way home and found Black surrounded by thugs, then he took Black to the hospital.

Deciding that he had a good reason to skip school, he called into his school while the nurses were getting him set up in the E.R.

Imagine his surprise when the nurses led him back to Blacks side, only to see a kid with blue hair unconscious in the bed.

"Uh," He pointed down at the kid," What happened to the kid?"

The nurse didn't even bother looking at him as he answered his question," We washed off the coloring he had in his hair," The nurse adjusted his I.V line," Call us when he wakes up." Wrath barely had the time to agree to the orders before the nurse was gone, attending to another patient.

He looked between the space the nurse had been occupying and between Black (Which wasn't even an accurate name) who was laying in the bed. He repeated the cycle for a few more seconds before shaking his head and sitting down next to the bed.

He tilted his head curiously as he observed the sleeping teenager. He didn't get a lot of chances to look at Black's face, since he still had the habit of wearing his mask during matches. No one was skilled enough to be able to pull off his mask in the middle of a fight (Except for him) so he took the chance to try and figure out if he knew him.

He certainly didn't remember knowing someone that had bright blue hair, and based on the way his contacts had moved earlier, he knew that Black had blue eyes that matched.

Which only made him wonder why Black named himself Black, there was physically nothing about him that was colored black. At first, he thought the kid was just uncreative with his name since his hair and eye color matched his name, but now he was just confused.

Then again, he called himself Wrath simply because he liked the way it sounded. So he wasn't going to question Black on his naming skills too much.

He was only sitting there for about 30 minutes when he heard Blacks phone going crazy in the teen's bag. Curiously, he rummaged through the bag.

Letting out a small sound of victory, he turned on the phone's screen only to see a multitude of text messages. All of them ranging from 'Where are you?' and 'Are you okay?' to 'Dude, Hyuuga is pissed' and 'Aida is going to kill you'.

He pursed his lips at that. He knew that Black was in a sports team, he was in one as well and felt almost obliged to respond to one of the messages to let the team know that Black was in the hospital so he wouldn't get in trouble. He could only imagine what his coach was going to do to Black for missing practice.

But at the same time, he didn't want to expose the teen for participating in the fight club. What they were doing was dangerous, and illegal. If anyone found out about it, chances were high that they would either try their damndest to prevent them from fighting. Or they would report them to their school or the authorities and that definitely would not go well.

He almost jumped when the phone started to vibrate from an incoming call.

He looked around confusedly, trying to figure out what to do. He looked between the phone and Black and repeated the cycle a few more times.

It was the same person who had sent Black most of the text messages he had seen, and every time he didn't pick up the phone, the person would call immediately again.

Against his better judgment, he answered the call.

"Uh, hello…?"

"KUROKO!" He jumped at the voice screaming at him and held the phone away from his ear," WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Wrath waited until the person stopped screaming before he put the phones against his ear again, "Um…I…I assume you know the owner of this phone?" Wrath had to quickly put together a lie to tell the person to avoid exposing Black.

"Eh, who are you? Where is Kuroko?"

He almost started laughing.

Was that his name? Kuroko?

Did Black seriously take the first part of his name and use it as his fight name?

Clearing his throat, he looked at Black, who was still knocked out in the hospital bed," Is Kuroko a kid with blue hair and eyes? Kinda skinny, has something of a temper?"

"I-what-temper? Never mind, yes Kuroko has blue hair, why do you have his phone?"

He made a face at the question and grimaced as he turned to look at the now dubbed Kuroko again," I, well, don't freak out, but, I found him in an alleyway with some thugs. He took a nasty hit to the head so I'm here in the hospital with him…" He trailed off as he heard someone cursing on the other side of the call, someone yelling and the sound of the phone being knocked against a few things before another breathless voice, called out to him.

After the voice introduced himself as Hyuuga, probably the same Hyuuga that was mentioned in the messages, Wrath answered the questions that Hyuuga asked, and with his eyes bulging out of his head, he freaked out as he distinctly heard the words,' We're on our way.'

Well shit.

How were the two of them going to get out of this one?

"Hey, Black, wake up, we got a problem." He groaned as he woke up, his head was pounding terribly. Again.

Did Wrath pull that fancy move on him again?

Wait no, he couldn't have, they didn't have a match.

…Or did they?

No, they didn't have a match…?

"Black, wake up man, your teammates are on their way."

What?

Wait.

Wait what the fuck?

Teammates? Why would they be on their wa-PRACTICE!

He woke up with a gasp and shot straight up in his bed, much to the surprise of Wrath.

His sudden movement made his stomach lurch uncomfortably, but he managed to keep the contents of his stomach down. With stinging eyes, he looked around the room, sluggishly realizing that he was in the hospital, with an unmasked Wrath standing right next to his bedside.

"Woah woah," Wrath was holding out his hands as if he was trying to calm a feral animal," Calm down, you're fine, we're here in the hospital." Despite the fear in his face, his voice was low and calming.

He swallowed the lump away from his throat as soon as his salivary glands started working again, He spoke," What happened?"

Wrath handed him a cup of water as he explained what happened," Those assholes jumped you in the bathroom and gave you a concussion before I was able to get them away from you." Black listened intently as he swallowed the water, relishing the way it soothed his throat," Listen, I told them that I found you in an alleyway, hurry up and take out your contacts, your teammates are on the way."

To be frank, everything was happening far too fast for him to comprehend just what the hell was happening. But he latched onto the few words that he could, and started to take out his black contact lenses," I-what- why are my teammates on their way?"

He rubbed at his eyes, still trying to wake himself up some more so he could comprehend the words that he heard.

There was a tinge of nervousness in Wraths voice," Your teammates kept on calling you and I answered them to let them know that you were here."

That made him wake up almost completely. He looked up at Wrath, who looked just as freaked out as he felt," You did what ?"

"Listen, you can kick my ass later," Wrath started to shove everything that could suggest illegal fighting into their bags, that included Blacks blue hand wraps that he was pulling out of his pockets," Just know that some guy named Hyuuga and Kagami are on their way, don't forget, I told them that I found you in an alley way with some thugs. Figure out what you're going to tell them because I have no idea how we're going to get out of this one."

That made his anger spark in him. He had no idea?! He was the one that got them into that situation with Hyuuga and Kagami! " Then why did you bring me here?!" He hissed out his words, his lips curling up in a snarl as he did so.

His words made Wrath pause before he lived up to his name and rounded on him with just as much anger and annoyance in his voice. His lips were curled back in a snarl and his face was twisted out of anger," I thought they cracked your skull when they gave you that concussion. Excuse me for wanting to make sure that you were okay you fucking asshole! Clearly I shouldn't have bothered if you're already back to being a dick head!"

His response only made his lips curl further in anger and displeasure. He was furious that Wrath had taken him to the hospital and then told his friends where he was. He was more upset that he was potentially about to be exposed. He did not jump through hoops for the past three years just for him to be exposed in such a stupid way.

But.

He knew that Wrath had done the right thing. He would have done the same thing if it was Wrath that had gotten hurt. So with a deep sigh, he forced his anger down, because he was in the wrong to be so angry, and waved off Wrath with his hand," Ok, ok, I shouldn't have reacted like that, thank you," His words made Wrath lower his hackles and calm down as he continued," Just, do me a favor and take my stuff with you." He tiredly rubbed at his eyes. He could explain him getting 'jumped' by some thugs while on one of his early morning walks, it wasn't going to be easy, but he could explain it with a lie here and there. He wouldn't be able to explain him having a bag full of hand wraps, a pocketknife, his hair wax, and eye contacts along with other suspicious items. " Give it to me tonight, one AM?"

Wrath finally calmed down and relaxed his shoulders," 12, I want to sleep in today."

Black sighed and tiredly nodded his head. He wasn't going to bother arguing with wrath, assuming that Wrath had stayed with him the entire time, Wrath had most likely stayed up for over 20 hours by that point. He didn't have the right to argue against him after Wrath had done so much for him," Ok, 12."

They were both in silence for a few seconds. Wrath rocking back and forth on his feet before almost nonchalantly saying,"So…Kuroko huh?"

He almost got whiplash from looking at Wrath so fast. Wrath held up his hand to stop Black from asking," Before you ask, it wasn't hard to figure out when that Kagami guy was screaming at what should have been you for missing practice. But did you seriously just get the first part of your name and use it?"

The grin on Wraths face made his lips curl up in a snarl again," Oh shut it."

The stupid grin got wider.

Wrath was just about to say something again when they both heard the sound of someone running down the hall.

Kuroko barely had the time to turn his curled lips into an impassive face before the door was slammed open by his team captain and friend.

He could tell that Wrath was reeling at the way he suddenly changed his personality. But with a few seconds of eye contact and a discrete nod.

The two of them started to weave snippets of truth into their lie, effectively creating a tale that the two teenagers believed.

Black just watched as Hyuuga thanked Wrath profusely.

This was starting to get ridiculous.

His teammates were getting closer and closer to discovering that he was a member of a fight club. And it was only through pure luck and almost stupid, unbelievable lies that he was able to evade their suspicions.

He should probably become an actor with how good he was acting just to cover up his favorite pastime…