Kagakuro Month Week 4 - Future + Silence/Noise
- Future AU, in which Kuroko has an accident and loses his hearing.
In A World Of Complete Silence (I Will Always Need You)
An accident can change nothing and everything in your life at the same time.
Maybe it can be one of those accidents that come for good, like when you go grocery shopping and the employee gets your change wrong and you get more than you should. Or when you enter a brand new high school and meet the love of your life with just a glance, during a spring day under a beautiful blossoming sakura tree.
No, maybe this is just pure luck or "destiny".
Yes, destiny.
Kagami hates destiny more than anything in the world right now, because it wants to take away the most important thing in his life – his friend, his partner in life, his lover.
No one would have thought that Kuroko would have been run over by a car that day, while crossing the street, headed to his work place. No one would have thought that the culprit would run away, leaving a very injured man on that street, until someone called an ambulance and Kagami was promptly notified of the accident by Takao, who happened to hear about it from Midorima, who was the one doctor who treated Kuroko when he entered the hospital. No one would have thought that this fireman would spend three entire days sitting in an ER, waiting for some news regarding his lover, while his friends (Aomine, Takao, Kise, Himuro, Murasakibara and Momoi) stood beside him, giving all his support and help in these difficult times.
No one would have thought Kuroko would wake up to a world of complete silence, not being able to hear a single sound.
-x-
When Kuroko woke up that day, the first thing he noticed was that he was not looking at the ceiling of his bedroom – their bedroom. It was of a different color (Kagami-kun really wanted their bedroom to be light blue for whatever reason), and Kuroko also noticed right away that he was not at home. The room smelt different – maybe a hospital?
The next thing he noticed was that everything was very quiet. If he was in a hospital, things couldn't be that quiet, right? He looked to his right side and out the window – it was a sunny day, the sunlight came in through the window and hit the bed, heating up Kuroko's feet. It was a nice feeling.
Then, he looked at his left side and there he was – Kagami. He was sleeping, head on Kuroko's bed, but he looked tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were from some days ago – how long had he been sleeping?
The only thing the blue haired remembered was crossing the street while going to work and suddenly everything went white and he felt something crash with him.
Ohh. He had an accident, alright.
He felt his head a bit fuzzy, and still wondered why everything was so silent around him. Kuroko then put a hand on Kagami's head and he woke up, lifting his head and slowly opening his eyes. When he finally came to his senses, the first thing the red haired did was hug Kuroko as tightly as possible.
Kuroko didn't remember the last time Kagami had done something like this, but well, he wasn't really complaining.
Until he felt something wet his left shoulder.
Kagami-kun.
Kuroko opened his mouth and tried to speak, but something was wrong. He couldn't hear himself speak.
He tried again. Kagami-kun. But once more, he couldn't hear himself. What was happening?
Kagami left his hurt body and faced him, wiping angrily the tears that threatened to come out. When Kuroko opened his mouth again, Kagami put a finger over his lips and shook his head slightly, as if telling him not to speak.
Kuroko couldn't understand what was going on, why couldn't he hear himself? Why would Kagami-kun tell him not to speak? Why was everything so silent?
Then it struck him.
Oh. I'm deaf.
Suddenly, his eyes went wide and the blue haired felt tears coming down his face. He was deaf. He could not hear a single sound.
He started to panic in Kagami's arms and the red haired tried to calm his lover down, hugging him as tightly as he could, but it was all in vain, because Kuroko was now screaming and crying as loud and strongly as he could, because he needed to feel it – he needed to be sure he would never again be able to hear any kind of sound. Not his own voice, not his friends' laugh when they went out together, not Nigou barking again and again when he was hungry – not his boyfriend's soft and gentle voice in his ears, every time they spent nights together, every time Kagami-kun whispered low but beautiful promises of love when they exchanged kisses, hugs, warmth.
Kuroko was doomed to a life of silence, and he could not be any sadder.
-x-
The following months were tough. Kuroko was dismissed from the hospital a month after the incident – the physical damage hadn't been that bad, only two broken ribs and a broken arm, apart from the damage on his hearing, of course. After that, he still went to a psychologist every week – the shock had been too great and Kuroko could simply not accept the fact that he had lost the ability to hear, feeling sad and restless all the time. Not even Kagami nor his friends from Teikou could make him liven up, bring back the old, ever so expressionless (but nonetheless happy) Kuroko.
He would stay at home, sitting on the couch reading all the time (sometimes Kagami would go and come home from work and Kuroko would still be there, no changes – not eating even), or he would just sleep in. Sometimes Kagami forced him to go out of the house, mostly on weekends, to go for a walk, hand in hand, like good ol' days, and he even brought Nigou, who had been feeling as sad as his blue-haired owner. Kagami knew exactly Kuroko's weak points, and bringing him to Maji to buy him a vanilla shake always made him liven up, even if just a little bit.
Times were tough, but Kagami was trying his best to hang in there.
The only way Kuroko found to communicate with people around him was through writing. He had always a small notebook and a pen with him, and he would write down anything and everything he needed others to know. At first, Kagami went along with it, because he wanted Kuroko to get used to his new condition, to feel the most comfortable possible. But after a while, and with everyone's support, Kuroko ended up having sign language classes.
During these times, Kagami discovered Kuroko could be a very very stubborn person. Well, he already knew his boyfriend was one of a kind, but this was too much.
On his first classes, Kuroko would just sit in a corner of the classroom and cross his arms. The teacher – a woman around her forties – would approach him and try to make him cooperate, but to no avail. Then, when Kagami heard the bad news from the teacher, he tried to convince Kuroko to try and at least learn the basics – he would always have his notebook and Kagami assured him he would always understand his boyfriend, no matter what. The red haired accompanied him to his classes after that, as him too had to learn a bit of this new language, and convinced him to take the classes seriously, because this was his future they were talking about.
After some months of classes, Kuroko had already some conversational skills and could hold a normal conversation just fine; Kagami, being the same dumb tiger as usual, could not. He tried, he could say "hello", "goodbye", "yes", "no" and some other normal greetings, and he could even say "I love you" (which was the first thing Kuroko taught him after he started to enjoy his classes, while they were both in bed, cuddling after a long and tiring day), but that was about it. Sometimes Kuroko would pull on his shirt to get his attention and tell him something like "I'm hungry" or "I'm going to take a bath, so please take Nigou for a walk", but he would not understand, or instead he would pretend he understood and would do something completely different – like turn off the TV or go around the house pointing at things until Kuroko finally wrote down what he really wanted. Sure, Kagami wanted Kuroko to learn sign language for his own good, but what good would come out of that if he himself could not learn and remember the signs?! Even Aomine and Kise could already speak to him in sign language, what a dumb he was.
Well, things were calmer right now, the accident had been almost forgotten (after almost a year) – Kuroko was enjoying his new life, and Kagami was trying his best to follow his boyfriend's steps.
Even their private life was coming back to normal – after the accident, Kuroko would not let Kagami come close to him in bed, because he felt he was not worth his love, his attention, as he had now this handicap. Kagami did his best to get Kuroko to feel comfortable with himself, and he explained him that nothing would make him change his feelings for him ever. The blue haired felt miserable, but Kagami would still hug him, would still kiss him and show him that nothing had changed – Kagami never thought Kuroko could be this stubborn ever in his whole life.
-x-
One afternoon, Kise visited the couple, together with Aomine, and he brought something with him. It was a pamphlet, advertising some transplant for deaf people.
Kuroko and Kagami could not believe their eyes: there was actually a small chance for Kuroko to come back to hearing again. Midorima had actually put this hypothesis on the table, but at the time both Kuroko and Kagami were too far tired and shocked with the recent events. Now, with their heads calmer and clearer, this was something to put some thinking on. What if the blue haired could actually go back to his previous condition, when he could hear perfectly well?
The couple discussed this idea throughout the week, on every possible moment, because this is an important step in Kuroko's life as of now. The Monday morning after, both of them headed to Midorima's clinic – this was it, they were going to take the next step.
Midorima explained them every single detail: the procedures, the pre and post operation procedures, how everything would work, what was going to be done to Kuroko's cochlea. In short, they would be doing a cochlear implant on Kuroko, implanting an electronic device that would provide him a sense of sound, making him go back to hearing little by little. Midorima warned them: the implant could not give him completely satisfactory results, as Kuroko was a bit old for this kind of procedure, but it would still give him an 80% rate of success, which was great by itself.
Kuroko and Kagami did not think twice – they wanted this to happen.
-x-
Kagami had been endlessly waiting for 4 hours straight in the waiting room of the clinic, but Kise and Aomine were there, as well as Takao and his brother Himuro, so he hung himself there pretty well. When everything was over, Midorima came out and gave them the good news: the operation had been a success, no implications, and Kuroko should be waking up any moment.
Kagami wanted to run and just give his boyfriend the tightest hug he could manage, but instead he waited – waited until Kuroko was awake, until he knew Kuroko could hear him again.
Some hours after, the blue haired woke up to a bunch of red hair beside him, apparently taking a nap. When he finally came to, he remembered what he was doing there – could he hear again? He tried to focus and hear the sound of his boyfriend's soft breathing, but he couldn't.
Oh. Had the operation gone wrong?
Apparently he shifted too much on the bed, because Kagami was waking up. Oh no, he couldn't. He couldn't go through this once again, what if Kagami spoke to him again and he couldn't hear him again? His dreams and hopes were being slowly shattered, until Kagami made him a sign with his hands – wait for a bit – and stood up and went out of the room.
This was it, Kagami should be hurting just like him by now, he shouldn't have done this operation, he knew nothing could be done but he still wanted this chance, what was he supposed to do now, he—
"Kuroko. Can you hear me?"
Kuroko felt someone touch his right ear and adjust the little device he had there. Then, noise. Confusion.
Then silence. And a voice, calling out to him.
"Kuroko."
"Kagami-kun."
Big tears were making his way down Kuroko's face – and Kagami promptly went and kissed them all away.
He could hear again. Was this a dream? Was he just imagining it? Apparently not, because Midorima was explaining something in the background, something that didn't really matter to Kuroko right now. He just wanted to hug his boyfriend and hear him whisper to his ear once again, hear his soft promises of eternal love. He was the happiest man on Earth right now and nothing could change that.
Kuroko had to take some rehabilitation sessions to get used to hearing again, but as he had been born naturally hearing, his rehab only lasted for 3 months. There were no problems whatsoever – Kuroko could now hear every kind of sound, from footsteps, to the slamming of doors, and even Nigou barking all the time, as if feeling the happiness of his owner. Things were progressing well, and Kuroko was getting used once again to his new life. Now, everything seemed so different, he now paid more attention to his surroundings, more than ever before. Kagami was also very happy for his lover and for himself as well – Kuroko's happiness was his happiness after all.
Kuroko wanted to get back to his previous work as a kindergarten teacher, but the children he met on Midorima's clinic gave him an idea, and some months later, there was a new center making its debut – a center for deaf children.
Kuroko has always loved children, and helping those whose needs had been equal to his own one day seemed like a good idea, if not an excellent idea.
Happiness was now boosting in their lives once again, and Kuroko could not have asked for more – he had overcome his handicap with the help of his friends and the love of his life, and he was ready for whatever would come from here on out.
-The End-