Sorry if some of the medical details in this chapter are off. I tried. My degree is in psychology not neurology! Totally different things. Sorta. So yeah, I tried. If it's wrong then I apologize.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
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A week passed. Kuroko didn't wake up. The Generation of Miracles spent most of their time with him in his room. Akashi kept one hand on Kuroko's arms (since his hands were still bandaged and healing) and one on his weapon almost the entire time, only moving for the bathroom or to make calls. He spent much of the waking hours in a quiet whisper recounting his and Tetsuya's lives before Okazaki. Occasionally someone would chime in but often the rest pretended not to hear, especially the more private stories. Sometimes the others would tell stories too. They all kind of hoped if they kept talking, it would help Kuroko somehow, so that's what they did.
Midorima and Takao had been forced to take at least a week of leave of absence and Midorima spent most of that time checking over Kuroko's charts as if they might change if he just waited a few minutes. He only stopped on the third day when Takao finally pulled the chart from his death grip and forced him to leave it alone. After that, he spent most of the time doing paperwork with his lover or reading medical journals that he believed might be useful. Takao didn't bother stealing those from his grip. The greenette wasn't good with emotions and this was all he could do to keep himself sane. Takao understood that much and at least the journals were a more productive use of time.
Kise and Aomine spent most of the time on Kuroko's other side or the couch with Kise curled up in Aomine's arms. Aomine had taken a weeks leave of absence voluntarily and Kise decided to take a break from his carreer for a while.
Murasakibara didn't stay in the room as much. He wasn't any good at telling stories or just watching idly. Occasionally he spent a few hours in the hall video chatting with his partner back in France, but more often than not, he helped out in the hospital kitchen. Every day he made a different vanilla flavored treat with the small hope that Kuroko would wake up and eat it.
But Kuroko didn't wake up. Another week passed and the months changed, but Kuroko's condition remained the same. Midorima and Takao went back to work although they still frequented Kuroko's room since he was their patient. Aomine went back to work as well, though he was stuck on desk duty till the psychologist cleared him for field work. Murasakibara regretfully flew back to France but promised to return as soon as Kuroko woke. Akashi continued to do his work from the hospital room and would have remained glued to his lovers side 24/7 if not for a certain blond who begged Akashi to teach him how to fight. Kise couldn't stop having nightmares and remembering how useless he felt when he had been stuck in the room and he was also tired of watching his former captain mope around like a lost puppy. It took some work, but Akashi gave in and agreed to train him. First he tried to hand the job off to Furusawa and Nebuya, but apparently it took a special skill to survive Kise's energy and ridiculousness. So in the end, it was Akashi who trained him.
The third week continued much the same and by the fourth week, they all returned to their daily lives more or less. They still visited nearly every day, but they couldn't put their lives on hold forever and honestly, they needed the distraction from their thoughts and fears.
~Two months after the incident~
"Good morning Shintarō." Akashi greeted the greenette doctor grimly as he handed his trench coat off to Mibuchi. "The others aren't here yet." He noted with a quick glance around the room and took a seat.
Midorima nodded to the window which was presently being battered by the wind and rain outside. "Could be the storm." He countered thoughtfully before checking the clock on the corner of his computer screen. "It could also be the fact your fifteen minutes early."
"I am never early or late."
"What are you? The queen of England?"
"No. I'm Akashi Seijūrō. I'm far better than any queen of England."
Midorima huffed at the ridiculous reply. "Glad to see you can joke around."
"Who said I was joking?" Akashi shrugged smugly before letting a grim expression take over his face. His next sentence came out as barely a whisper. "It's all I can do not to break right now."
The doctor studied Akashi for a moment before nodding, his own face unreadable. A comfortable silence fell over the room as Akashi pulled out his phone and Shintarō went back to sorting various papers on his desk.
About eight minutes of peace passed before it was interrupted by Kise throwing open the door with Aomine close behind.
"Good morning!" The blond greeted cheerily.
Aomine smacked the back of his lovers head and grunted a greeting before dragging the blond to the couch opposite of Akashi. "How do you have so much fucking energy at 5:30 A.M.?" he grumbled.
"Eh? How come you don't!?"
Midorima and Akashi sighed in unison. How were these two bickering at such an early hour should be the real question, but neither of them were going to ask. A voice from Midorima's computer speakers interrupted them.
Midorima gave a nod towards the screen and then turned it to face the others. "And now that everyone is here…." He gestured to the screen showing Murasakibara waving to them.
"Good evening Mido-chin, Aka-chin, Kise-chin, and Mine-chin!" The purple haired giant greeted before Midorima could finish his sentence.
"It's 5 in the fucking morning here." Aomine grumbled as he leaned back and placed his feet on the coffee table, ignoring Midorima's scowl.
"Sorry. I forgot!"
"It's okay, Atsushi." Akashi reassured. "Please continue Shintarō."
"Right." The greenette pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "I called you all here to discuss Kuroko's condition."
"What's there to discuss? Tetsu hasn't woken up yet."
"Exactly." Midorima sighed. "We've run every test and so far, we don't know why he isn't waking up. I've sent his case to dozens of top neurologists, psychologists, and other physicians. While there is some evidence of possible brain damage, it's the type we won't be able to detect with certainty till he wakes up. The overall consensus is that it's not what's keeping him in his comatose state."
"What are you saying Shintarō?"
"There is no physical reason for him not to wake up. That means it's psychological."
"But what does that mean Midorimacchi!? You're not making sense."
"Baka. It means Tetsu doesn't want to wake up. Right?" Aomine looked to Shintarō for confirmation.
Midorima nodded letting his shoulders slump forward. "Right. At least, that's the belief. His body isn't waking up because his mind doesn't want it to."
"Tetsuya doesn't want to live." Akashi half stated and half asked staring at the floor as though it could somehow help him.
"It's possible. This is just a theory though. Psychology in this case is not a science. It's just an assumption." Midorima tried to console the red head.
Akashi shook his head. "No. It makes sense." He sighed and stood, making his way over to the window. Silence enveloped the room again as Akashi absentmindedly traced the water droplets on the other side of the window pane until Aomine finally spoke up.
"What do we do? I mean, how do we get Tetsu to want to wake up? Is there some medicine? Some technique? Some voodoo? Anything we can do?"
"Don't be ridiculous Daiki." Akashi replied calmly before Midorima had a chance. "Voodoo isn't real."
"But we have to do something!" Kise wailed with tears forming in his eyes. "We can't just…"
"Let him die." Midorima finished the blonds statement.
"I don't want Kuro-chin to die."
"If it's what Tetsuya wants…." Akashi clenched his fist as he spoke. "If it's what he wants then…."
"What are you saying?!" Aomine stood and roughly grabbed the red heads shoulders shaking him. Mibuchi nearly tackled the tanned cop but Akashi raised his hand to stop him and met Aomine's gaze with a cold and fierce one of his own.
"I'm saying, if that's what he wants, then maybe we should pull the plug. Isn't that what you called us here for?" Akashi shifted his gaze to Midorima.
Midorima stared back with wide eyes and a gaping mouth at Akashi's assumption before shaking his head. "No." He recomposed himself. "I wasn't suggesting that Akashi. We don't even know for sure if that's what he wants."
"It does make sense though…I mean…Kurokocchi went through things I can't imagine. I don't want to imagine. I don't know if I would want to live after all of that." Kise sniffled and raised his eyes to meet everyone elses gazes. "I'm sorry. I just…"
Aomine sighed and removed his hands from Akashi's shoulders to return to his lover. He wrapped his arms around Kise and letting the blond soak his shirt with tears. "Shh. It's okay." He whispered.
Akashi returned to his seat as well and folded his hands to rest his head on.
"Akashi?" Midorima called out when Kise's sobs died down and no one had spoken for several moments. "Do you really want to pull the plug? I mean, since his parents passed away last year, seeing how you're the next closest person to him…if you want to…"
The red head held up his hand to halt Midorima's sentence and shook his head. "I don't want to. I don't want to think he's given up and I don't want to give up on him." he raised his head to meet the greenette's eyes. "I just don't know what to do? Isn't there anything we can try?"
"There aren't many similar cases documented and even fewer included in treatment studies. If brain injury was the problem, we would have more options, but since it probably isn't, we are limited."
"That doesn't answer my question Shintarō. You didn't drag us all here at such an ungodly hour to tell us he still wasn't awake and you still can't fix it." The red head growled.
"You would have been up at this hour whether you were here or not."
"Well I wouldn't!" Aomine butted in to protest.
"Midorimacchi! Akashicchi! Daikicchi! We're getting off point!" Kise cried out in annoyance effectively gaining the others attention.
Midorima shifted and pushed up his glasses again. "Kise is right. Listen. There is something that might work; it just hasn't been used in a case like this that I could find."
"What is it, Shintarō? What might work?"
Midorima fished a packet of paper from a stack on his desk and passed it to Akashi. "It's a drug. It's been used to wake patients with brain injuries from comas. It's only been somewhat successful in studies, but I don't think it could do any harm."
Akashi studied the papers full of study results before meeting Midorima's eyes. "What do we have to do?"
"If you are asking if there are any hoops to jump through, there aren't. All we have to do is inject the drug and wait an hour or so."
"It's that simple?" Murasakibara asked disbelievingly.
"There's got to be more to it than that. Come on dude. If it was that easy, you would have done it already."
Shaking his head, Midorima stood. "Giving him the drug is simple, but we don't know what's going to happen when he wakes up. If it's true, if he really doesn't want to wake up or even live, it would be going against his wishes."
"Well, we can't know if that's truly what he wants if he's in a coma and can't tell us." Akashi rose from his seat too. The other two nodded and rose as well.
"If Kurokocchi wakes up….we can be there for him. We can help him get through it!"
"I'm down with that." Aomine agreed.
Murasakibara nodded his agreement as well making it unanimous.
"Then we will do it tomorrow. I think everyone should be here if they can. Can you catch a flight out here that soon, Murasakibara?" Midorima concluded.
"Eh. That's kind of soon." The giant replied.
"I'll take care of the arrangements and send you the details Atsushi." Akashi promised.
"Okay. Um…can I bring someone with me?"
"If you mean your partner, Himuro right, then yes."
"Mmhmm! Thanks Aka-chin. I gotta go now! Bye!" Murasakibara waved and the video feed cut off.
"Well, now that that's settled, how about breakfast!" Kise suggested.
The rest of the group nodded in approval and they left the office to grab a bite to eat and further discuss the smaller details of the matter.