Disclaimer: Toei's, not mine
Notes: I am so sorry about taking so long with this. Inbetween school and mental blocks, this fic is taking much longer than it should be. The fact that Ayase is the character I have the most trouble writing for doesn't help much, either.
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Ayase awoke to the sounds of footfalls. Upon opening his eyes, he saw the nurse who had been with him since he first came to the hospital beaming down at him. "Good to see you're finally awake," she chirped as she started going over some data. "You had everyone here worried since your disease had progressed so far, but you pulled through." She placed a bottle of pills on his nightstand. "Keep in mind, you're not out of the woods yet. You'll need to take one of these two times a day for the next week. You might experience some side effects like drowsiness or dizziness, so I want you to call me or Doctor Fujiyama if that happens, okay?"
He nodded, committing her instructions to memory. The whole thing was still too surreal for him to do anything else. He had become so accustomed to the idea of only having a couple of years (at the most) left, it had begun to feel like it had always been that way for him. But then… things started to change. He had met Tatsuya. Tatsuya, who could have just sat back and let his father plan out a perfectly comfortable life for him… but he had refused. He had fought for a chance to live his own life, even if the change could only be seen tomorrow morning, and without even trying had made Ayase realize that even if fate had been decided for him, in the present day his life was still his own.
But now Tatsuya was gone. He was cured. He had his life back… and no idea what to do next.
"… I said, do you want some water?" The nurse's brow furrowed in concern.
"Yes, please." He watched silently as she filled the bottle. "I'm sorry. It's just… a lot to process."
She smiled over her shoulder. "Don't feel bad. I'm so used to telling patients they only have so much time left that you're a nice change of pace." She returned to his side and placed the water next to the medicine. "But next time tell someone if you're having chest pains instead to taking it like a man or whatever. Pride is what does boys your age in."
"Don't worry, I've learned my lesson." He was surprised by how easily the lie came out. After taking a sip, he started to lie down again (but not to sleep; he had a sneaking suspicion Tatsuya would be waiting there for him in his dreams), when he heard the nurse say something about how it was the first time they had a cure before the disease was even discovered.
He bolted up. "What did you say?"
She blinked, obviously surprised by his sudden energy, but answered his question. "You know Asami-T'grell Corp? Intergalactic business, dabble in pretty much everything if it's profitable? Well, thanks to some research done a few centuries ago, they had a cure for your disease just as it started hitting the populace. It made a lot of doctors very rich, let me tell you. The nurses not so much, but what else is new…"
Ayase cut her off. "I don't suppose you know when they started the research?" There was no way she could know, it had been a millennia ago--
She stroked her chin. "Don't quite me on this, but… 2020, I think? Maybe 2030? Sometime around then, I know that much."
He fell back on the pillows. Tatsuya… he had done it. He had really done it.
As the door hissed shut behind the nurse, Ayase looked out his window. The sun was rising. He appreciated the beauty and the promise behind it as he had before, but this time for an entirely different reason.
He had the entire day… his entire life ahead of him. And like Tatsuya, he would make the most out of every day, because changing one day could change fate.