Nowaki liked the new hospital he transferred into. A downgrade from the high tech hospital he had grown accustomed to, but he saw the purpose of settling there. Close enough to his cabin and kept a safe distance from anyone discovering any suspicious activity.
He passed the interview with flying colors. His careful strides in providing the right answers with smiles had won over his interviewer. The paperwork for his transfer made him cringe. He hated doing paperwork of any kind.
From the sparkling floors to the amicable staff, none of them appeared suspicious of a city boy coming into their hospital. In fact, they invited him into their flock with open arms. None of them suspected anything amiss. His natural charm kept any worries about of their minds. He developed some acquaintances with a variety of people and earned the trust of the head doctor.
All in a first day's work.
The whole ghost lie came with a variety of ramifications. Hiroki tumbled into a deep depression and refused any offer of food and drink. One look at the tray and he turned his face away. It didn't matter much in Nowaki's opinion. The drugs added into Hiroki's I.V's caused him to loose any hunger pains way before the news. In any case, Nowaki worried about Hiroki's mental state at the reality of his death.
Hiroki's self assured persona crumbled into this pathetic sight. Something he never thought he'd witnessed on such a proud man. Still, Nowaki ached with sympathy at witnessing such a broken Hiroki. He loved Hiroki's brashness and the sound of confidence in his voice.
Upon entering the room, tray in hand, Hiroki told him. "I don't want it."
"Hiroki-san, please, you have to try."
Hiroki glared at him. The power lessened in intensity from his tired state and desperation. "Stop insisting in helping me. Leave me to wallow in my sorrow. You can find another ghost to help."
Nowaki set the tray on the nightstand. "I can't do that Hiroki-san." He tilted his head to the side. "Everyone dies, Hiroki-san. You can't be so arrogant to believe you weren't susceptible to die. Be grateful you feel no pain now that you have passed. Not many people have this luxury."
Hiroki scoffed. "As the ghost expert, you know should have grown used to cranky ass people who didn't want to die. Suck it up."
Nowaki muttered under his breath. "Follow your own advice." He hid his frustration with a smile. "Well, we can't have you just laying here all day. Why don't I grab a book for you to read?"
"Not interested."
"Not even if it's..." Nowaki picked one of the books Hiroki coveted for his collection. "This one?"
Hiroki's eyes widened in surprise. "You have that book?"
Hiroki became bearable for a limited amount of time. The book transformed the gloomy man into the bookworm who ate up countless amounts of books. Hiroki even let Nowaki feed him a piece of fruit or two before dismissing him. Engrossed in his book, Hiroki fell asleep with the book in his weak hands, straining the muscles from his attempts at holding it up.
Nowaki set it aside as he tidied up the room. His actions woke up Hiroki who grimaced at the loss of his book. He chuckled in amusement. From what he witnessed, he might catch Hiroki sleeping with books on his body.
Using the guise of fluffing Hiroki's pillows, Nowaki moved closer to him. "How are you feeling this morning?
Hiroki glanced at Nowaki. "Decent."
"I understand that these last few days have been hard on you. Trust me, I haven't gotten over the shock myself" Nowaki moved back, but not before softly touching Hiroki's hair. His touch didn't linger to avoid Hiroki's change of mood. "You can tell me about your thoughts. We have all the time in the world to chat and you can decompress."
His position as a doctor proved useful in keeping Hiroki subdued on this bed. The potency and measurements of the drugs he kept in stock meant that Hiroki's muscle strength weakened as each day passed. This made it impossible for Hiroki to push him away ever again, it took one time to serve as a prime lesson of his carelessness. Now, he made sure that Hiroki's medication remained circulating through the ex-professor's body.
He watched Hiroki's every move. Hiroki closed his eyes shut, his breathing slowed down, and his hand curling on his chest. Nowaki enjoyed watching him. Anything Hiroki did fascinated him. His slow descent in losing his patience about kissing Hiroki, tugged at his self-control.
After so many years of gathering information on Hiroki, he pushed himself through school just to get his attention. The wait for a mere kiss drove him wild, he dreamed about kissing those lips again.
Realizing Nowaki waiting on an answer Hiroki let out a deep sigh. "You will grow bored of hearing me talk."
Nowaki shook his head, smiling in encouragement. "Not at all. In fact, I would love to hear what you have to say."
Hiroki opened one eye, it took all his strength not to fall asleep in front of the guy. "I guess..something I never spoke about in life…was my father's side of the family." Nowaki scooted closer to Hiroki. "They never took to my mother well and her fragile disposition wasn't in their image for a wife of the Kamijou family."
Nowaki's eyes narrowed, but kept his face from showing his anger at Hiroki's relatives. The woman he met years ago was a kind woman who spoke with such refinement and politeness. In their short conversation, he saw how much she loved her husband and son.
He couldn't understand why they didn't like this woman.
"And also…learning about my mother's health, it was never the best and I only found out when mother was hospitalized during one of my kendo tournaments." Hiroki closed his one open eye with a frown. "She risked her life to birth me and I am stupid enough to die before her. I am such an ungrateful son."
Nowaki reached out and curled his hand around Hiroki's weakened hand. "You are not ungrateful, it was just an unfortunate accident."
Hiroki scoffed. "You have repeated that it was an accident too many times, I get it."
Nowaki repeated himself. "It was an accident." He squeezed Hiroki's hand. "Anything else you want to tell me?" He hoped Hiroki didn't say anything about Akihiko, he didn't want to hear the praise coming from Hiroki's voice about that man.
Hiroki responded. "I can't think of anything…" His eyebrows furrowed as he managed to move his head to the side. "My mind is just blanking out on me right now."
Nowaki gulped and knew it was the drugs kicking in to lull Hiroki into another bout of dreamless sleep. One of the medicines he slipped into Hiroki's I.V was a sleeping agent that made sure a person slept. The fact the person got no dreams turned into a bonus to his plans.
Without adding this to Hiroki's medication, his ruse would end. A dead person experienced no dreams.
"Ugh…."
Nowaki removed his hand off of Hiroki and pushed some of those brown locks from Hiroki's face. "Don't fight it, just let the feeling take over. It will go away soon."
Hiroki forced his eyes open and stared at Nowaki. "Is there any way to get this to go faster? I hate being bedridden more than anything. I don't like being stuck in this room all the time."
Nowaki smiled lightly. "All of the other people who came to me just let it happen and were on their merry way. Maybe you are just trying to hard, you have to relax."
Hiroki closed his eyes again and kept his irritation in check.
It was useless trying to get information out of Nowaki. Nowaki parroted the same vague answers about other ghosts he helped. His irritation spiked at the lack of information. Not that Hiroki minded staying around the guy for a while. Nowaki was a product of his teachings. A self made man who worked hard for his position in life. In a way, he was proud of his input on Nowaki's journey to success.
He wondered about Nowaki's love life. With the doctor's looks, it was hard to imagine him without someone on his arm. Unless, Nowaki focused his attention onto his job and had no time to date.
Yet, Nowaki wasted time in his presence. He thought Nowaki worked in a hospital. Those hours fluctuated depending on the area of expertise and the hospital in question. Then again, he didn't know the exact date anymore. He lost track of time.
"Nowaki…"
"Yes?" Nowaki grinned.
"Don't you have work?" Hiroki asked in a low voice.
Nowaki's grin lessened, "I'm starting a new shift in a hospital next week. The head doctor thought I should settle into my home before the hours become hectic."
"Also…" Nowaki leaned closer. "Don't you have a girlfriend or something.."
"Ah.." Nowaki frowned. "No, I don't have any time to look for anyone else." Not when he spent all of his free time following Hiroki around for so many men and women were not the people he wanted. He desired Hiroki Kamijou as his lover, no one else fit his image of a lover.
"That's surprising…"
"Why?"
"You…are not…too bad looking.." Hiroki slipped into unconsciousness, leaving Nowaki staring at him in complete shock.
Nowaki loomed over Hiroki's sleeping form with a developing gleam in his once calm blue eyes. The mere thought of Hiroki giving him compliments almost slipped his attention. Good thing he listened to Hiroki's every word in order to make sure to keep up the ruse. One of his hands caressed Hiroki's face while the other one pressed against the wall to keep him upright.
The moment Hiroki complimented him, his reservations broke, flooding his common sense away.
In the beginning, Hiroki complimented his accomplishments from a tutor's standpoint, a proud teacher who saw their student years ahead in the future. Teachers loved saying they taught a future lawyer or a doctor. Something he did through his own hard work. His outer appearance never came into Hiroki's radar. The one person he wanted to comment on his appearance had just done it.
He hunched down closer to the unconscious man, his eyes searching for a place to touch or kiss with his lips. The yearn to touch this man drove him insane. Where should be start first?
The fact Hiroki had not bathed didn't bother him. He cleaned him off during his initial injuries and attempted sponge baths when Hiroki slipped into deep sleep. A drug induced sleep which kept him from waking up in the middle of his actions. During those times, he held back from touching him as a lover. Wanting nothing more than have Hiroki react to his touch.
His lips brushed on Hiroki's bare shoulder. A feeling of lust went through his body, his dick twitched from the action.
Hiroki didn't move an inch.
The lack of fighting gave him encouragement to continue.
Nowaki began leaving light kisses throughout Hiroki's neck, he felt Hiroki's form shivering under him. He stared at his face and saw that his eyes opened a bit, but they didn't focus on anything.
Good, Hiroki remained in a deep state of drug induced sleep.
Licking this lips, he continued on kissing down Hiroki's exposed neck. The white robe fit loose on the man which made it easier to open without force. He felt brave and used his hand to push away the robe to expose more of Hiroki's bare shoulder.
Nowaki breathed deeper as he licked Hiroki's shoulder. No guilt came over him while he touched Hiroki's unconscious form, he had waited long enough to touch his future lover. He was certain on Hiroki's future desire over him in due time.
Holding back the urge to bite Hiroki's skin, he kissed along the shoulder. Any evidence of this moment would ruin all of this hard work.
When Hiroki loved him back, he would mark his new lover without abandon. He anticipated for the day to arrive even faster.
Hiroki opened his eyes the moment he felt something touching his neck.
Shivering, his lack of muscle strength made it harder for him to swat whatever was touching him away. The assumption of a fly or a mosquito touching him dissipated when he felt air touch wet spots. There were traces of liquid in scattered areas and he swore felt cold.
Opening his eyes, his vision blurred. He made out no features on the person leaning over his body except for the black haziness of hair on top of their head. No panic went through his body, he was worn out enough that his adrenaline didn't kick in.
He heard the harsh breathing of the figure and he thought the figure started whispering into his ear. They were sweet words that did nothing more than confuse him.
Why did this figure touch him?
Letting out a groan, Hiroki tried lifting up his hand, but it fell back onto his chest.
He despised having no strength in his body. For the first time in his life, he felt complete helplessness. Scratch that, the moment he knew he was dead was the first time, this journey through death left him with unanswered questions which added onto his state of confusion.
His robe slipped down, hands wandered all over his skin. A warm hand. He thought ghosts couldn't be touched, they were not alive anymore.
What was going on?
After that thought, he passed into unconsciousness. Hiroki regained consciousness and then slipped back into unconsciousness again. He didn't know how long the gaps in between were, but the touches continued on with no sign of stopping.
When the touches traveled North, he managed to turn his head to the direction of the figure. His lips were caressed tenderly, the amount of time this action occurred escaped him.
Opening his eyes again, he saw a pair of blue eyes staring down at him. Hiroki couldn't believe the man trying so hard to have him pass on was taking advantage of him.
He chastised himself for such thoughts. No, it wasn't Nowaki of all people. He was too kind and considerate to do something like this.
Was his transition into death making him hallucinate?
When he was alive he had not slept with anyone in years so maybe the sexual frustration tagged along. It must have transferred with him when he died. His mind placed his frustrations on the one other person he saw for the longest period of time.
Maybe thinking of someone he had no attraction to would make this go away. It didn't hurt to try this tactic.
"A-A.." Hiroki tried speaking and this made the figure stop in his ministrations. "A-Akihiko…"
After uttering his best friend's name, he didn't feel this figure over his body anymore. He heard a door slamming in the distance. He ignored it in favor of falling into unconsciousness.