Epilogue

"Alright everyone, gather around please!" Takao blew the whistle and waited for the kids to process what he was ordering. Their looks of surprise at seeing him there after disappearing yesterday did not escape his Hawk Eye. "I've made my decisions on the starting lineup, I'm sure everyone's interested in hearing about it."

It was almost amazing how the whole team popped up around him like moths drawn by a flame in a matter of seconds. It just made it harder to tell at least half of those kids that they had very slim chances of ever getting out on games. He reached inside his pocket for the list of names and positions they'd be using from now on, although he already knew it by heart.

"Excuse me, Sensei, may I come in?"

Takao looked up and was surprised to see Hyougo Kasai standing on the doorway, a look of embarrassment and insecurity drawn on his face. He sighed and put the player list back in his pocket. He had to clear this up right now. "Let's talk in private."

"I'm home." Midorima called as he got rid of his medical robe. It was a miracle he'd been let off so early considering how he'd bailed out of the ER in the middle of a crisis without even telling any of his supervisors. He would usually get annoyed at people unwillingly giving him special treatments because of his disability, but today he was definitely not going to complain.

"Welcome back, darling." Takao replied playfully, getting up from the couch to greet his beloved.

"How did it go with the team?"

Takao's face brightened. "It was good! I think those kids have managed to become a very solid team in a very short time. If they keep improving at this rate, there's no telling how far they can go." He was feeling so satisfied seeing how far they had come and how strong they were compared to the boneless team he'd picked up less than two months ago. And the guys had noticed it too, he could tell. They were excited about the preliminaries next week, and their confidence level had multiplied by the thousands. It was almost a miracle.

"What about that kid? The one that picked on you." Midorima had had a hard time refraining from going to school in person and beat some sense into that boy that had inadvertently pushed all of Takao's buttons and turned him into an emotionally unstable mess with just a few words. Takao had persuaded him to stay put and promised he would deal with the problem himself. He'd said their heart-to-heart had been a wake-up call for him and he now felt strong enough to get some closure on this.

The Hawk Eye grinned sheepishly. "It went surprisingly smoothly. Hyougo-kun came to apologize out of his own initiative. Do you remember Kamito, the first year shooter you coached for a while? He's Hyougo's older brother and he apparently heard about what happened."

He had been genuinely surprised to hear this boy was the brother of one of his former teammates. Hyougo Kamito hadn't been a stellar player, but Shin-chan had taken him under his wing and by the time they graduated, Kamito had become strong enough to become a starting member of the team. The younger brother had bowed deeply in apologies, explaining how Kamito had told him the whole story about Shin-chan's accident.

"My brother called me an idiot. He showed me the videos of the time Sensei captained Shuutoku to win the Winter Cup, and he said you were the one to bring the team back into shape and pushing yourself the hardest after Midorima-san had to retire."

He'd had a flood of bad memories again. The time he'd first met Seirin after the accident and having to tell Kagami and Kuroko that Shin-chan wouldn't play the Winter Cup. How he'd had to hold back his tears in front of his team to keep them from falling apart. How many times he'd screwed up in practice, how many times he had unthinkingly made a pass that was meant for Shin-chan, that special pass that only the two of them could use, but Shin-chan could no longer stand in the court to catch it. How lonely it felt when the ball bounced off and away because no one was standing there to get it. How the instant of euphoria upon touching the Winter Cup trophy had vanished the moment he realized Shin-chan hadn't been on the court with him. He had hoped none of the other members of the team had noticed, but that had obviously not been the case.

"I apologize. I spoke out of line without knowing the whole story. I will accept any punishment Sensei thinks appropriate."

Takao had grinned. It was kind of amazing how everything seemed to magically fall into place now. "You love basketball, don't you? That's all I need to know."

"I'm glad you worked it out."

"I know right? It almost seems like I was making a fuss out of nothing. And he's a natural leader, the team feels a lot more confident now that he's back at the top of his game. Practice was great today."

Midorima smiled. It soothed his heart to see Takao picking himself up so quickly, and how optimistic he had become about his new job. Barely three weeks ago he'd been bawling about the hopelessness of the team, and he now seemed confident they could get good results in the upcoming Inter High. It made him think that maybe this could turn out to be Takao's true calling, and he was happy to see his love find something he could be passionate about (beyond their relationship).

"By the way, I contacted the doctor Kuroko recommended. He gave us an appointment for next Friday at 7:00."

The young doctor swallowed hard, still having second thoughts about this particular topic. "Are you sure you'll be OK with this?"

After coming clean to each other yesterday, Takao had suggested they took couples counseling. "If I had taken the doctor's advice back then and taken proper counseling, I wouldn't have made such a pitiful spectacle of myself earlier." While Midorima had encouraged the idea to help both of them get closure, he was hesitant on bringing forth the topic of his nightmares. He felt speaking about them made them real, and the sole idea made him lose his breath.

"Don't even try to back out of it now, Shin-chan. We need this. You said it yourself, we're obviously not completely over what happened that day and we've been hurting ourselves because of it all these years and that has to stop. I can't possibly go to sleep if I'm worrying you'll wake up in the middle of the night because of one of those nightmares."

Midorima was crouched on the floor, having left the wheelchair at the genkan. Takao kneeled next to him and held both of the taller man's hands in his, stroking the fingers that were still taped three times a day and given the utmost care. The only difference was that now Shin-chan used them to save lives, and that made Takao's heart swell with pride and warmth.

"I'll be right there every step of the way. I've always been and I'll always be. I promised this before, didn't I? We'll be strong together. It's about damn time we leave this stupid guilt and fears behind us."

The green-haired man nodded, pressing his lips to Takao's hands. "You'll protect me from the nightmares and I'll beat that guilt out of you if I have to, right?"

Takao smiled and Midorima saw the ghost of guilt, that darkness that had always been lurking around in those clear eyes. But it was different now. There was the light of hope eating away the darkness, the hope for the future they would find together, and it washed all his doubts away.

"Kazunari, I love you."

Takao smiled. It would take time. It wouldn't be easy. There would still be some pain and nightmares. But they had each other and the warmth of their hands laced together, and as long as they had that they could be sure they would manage to keep going.

"I love you too, Shin-chan."

END

I think I've mentioned it before, but I always have a hard time finding a good closure after an emotional rollercoaster climax, sometimes I even wonder if I'm not making it repetitive. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this story. I don't really have much else to say, I really enjoy writing these two and I'm working in a handful of other stories for this pairing, including more from the Miracle canon.

Please R&R, your comments always make me happy.