Ch2.

/If only you could see

The stranger next to me/

Omi rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his hand. He walked slowly back to the flower shop. He'd survived another day at school, had almost managed to make himself care about the grade he'd received on his one exam but in the end…It was all bland. It was all so fake. He pushed the door open and ignored the squealing customers that were happy to see him. He couldn't manage to smile for them. He just couldn't. He glanced at the room's occupants. Aya. Ken. Yoji? No. The older man wasn't here.

"I'm going to go change." He muttered to Aya as he passed by.

"Hn." The redhead uttered before frowning at the growing crowd of fangirls.

"And get that lazy ass down here!" Ken growled, clearly frustrated from the lack of help. Omi waved a hand tiredly at them before escaping upstairs. His feet paused in front of Yoji's door. He knocked once…twice…there was no answer. He opened it carefully, poking his head in after having tugged his lips into the semblance of a smile.

"Yoji-kun?" The bed was empty. The covers and sheets were pulled away from the mattress, tangled on the wooden floor. Omi pushed the door open further. "Yoji-kun?" He stepped into the room, careful not to step onto anything that would have mattered to the older man. But then again, a little nagging voice spoke in Omi's head before he could shake it off, the man no longer cared about anything or anyone these days. His appearance had gone from immaculate to …disheveled. His flirting green eyes were usually bleak if not closed or hallucinating. On his better days, Yoji was unrecognizable. On his worst days…the man was simply a ghost waiting to go somewhere else.

And no matter how many promises Omi managed to extract from Yoji that it was over, that he'd kick the habit, that he'd stop… oh god!

/You promise you promise that you're done

But i can't tell you from the drugs/

"Yoji!"

/Don't let go/

Warm hands were suddenly lifting him up. Voices clamored on around him. Yoji felt lost. None of the sounds made sense. He wanted to see what was happening but he couldn't manage to open his eyes more than a slit. Or he thought he couldn't but all of sudden there was blue. Blue. Other colors washed in and out. Red, brown, green, black, white, yellow… and they would mix and separate in such a manner that he wanted to be sick. He wanted to be able to close his eyes again. But nothing in him was cooperating. And just as he feared that it would never stop, blue would reappear. And it was a balm to his soul.

"You'll be ok."

The sounds suddenly made sense. They were words. They were…

"Kid." It was a groan.

"Yoji…god… you'll be ok. Just hang on."

'No. No, you got it wrong kid. I can't hang on anymore. Don't let me go. Don't let me go… Don't give up on me… please. Please.' Blue flashed in and out. 'Don't let me go. Don't leave.' In and out. 'Please.' In. 'I...' Out. 'Need.' In. 'You.' Out. 'I'm…' In. 'Lost.'

Out.

/We'll dig a great big hole/

Omi hung on to the man's hand as if it was his lifeline, blue eyes huge in his too tired face. Ken's hand was warm on his shoulder, its pressure would have been comforting but… But. Omi closed his eyes, lifting Yoji's hand to his cheek.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ken asked quietly. Omi had no answer. None that could make its way past his constricted throat. "I just, I thought he was just drinking. I—" Ken trailed off as Omi winced. He'd had no idea how bad the situation had gotten to be. And all the little pieces of the puzzle that had been in front of him somehow were placed together. The late nights, Yoji's disappearing act, his lack of flirting, his lack of just being there. Not to mention Omi's shoulder, his tired eyes—the kid had lost weight and he just hadn't been able to focus on anything. Anything it seemed other than Yoji.

"He'll be ok, you know." Omi's voice was soft. Yet it seemed painfully sharp as it broke the silence around them. Ken's hand pressed into his skin. "He always is." Ken opened his mouth but he closed it after a minute. He didn't know what to say. He also knew deep within that Omi wouldn't have heard him. The blue eyes looked so far away from him in that moment and he ached at the distance.

"You didn't have to go through this alone." He whispered.

"He'll be fine." Omi repeated slowly. "He promised, you know." His voice sounded strange… "He promised it would be his last time." Ken swallowed hard. "And." Omi's eyes were focused now. "I." They blinked rapidly. "Believed." Harsh, the words were harsh to hear. The voice was rough and strangled. "Him." Then the tone changed and it was more sobbing than words making it hard for Ken to decipher them. "I believed him. After all the times he promised and did this again and again…" But he did. "I believed him…I left him alone." Because he had to. "I…" Because he had already lost a friend and his other one was breaking. "I went to school! How could I? How could I?"

/Down an endless hole

We'll both go/

Ken removed his hand from the shaking shoulder before wrapping the younger man in his arms. Omi protested the movement, needing to deny himself the comfort. How could he deserve to be comforted when he'd failed? Ken tightened his hold, his chin coming to rest on top of Omi's head.

"If the big man promised…" He whispered into the golden brown locks. "He'll keep that promise." Yoji would be ok. He would be. The words were a mantra blowing through his mind. He believed in them. He hoped. He needed to make Omi believe in them as well. "He'll be ok. It's not the first time, right? That he's passed out? He just hit his head this time. He'll be fine. He'll be ok. He'll keep that promise to you, Omi. I swear…We'll help him keep it. We'll be here too. Ok?" Slowly he started to rock in place, the boy in his arms losing all resistance.

And Ken was right. Yoji was fine. This time. He woke from his drugged stupor. Complained of a massive headache, waved their concern aside…Blew up at the suggestions that they involve Kritiker. He was fine. He was in control of this. And when the hell had he asked them to meddle in his life? It only took a few more words like that for Ken to blow his own fuse, throwing up his hands in the air and leaving the room before he attacked the older man. He had tried to explain the painful hours that they'd just spent at his bedside but oh no!

Omi withdrew, taking in the scene. His eyes were still pleading. He knew what he needed to do. What he should have done a long time ago. His blue eyes closed in time with the slamming of a door.

To be continued…