Strangers in a Waiting Room
2. A Doorway Gets the Most Greetings
It turned out Takuya hadn't needed any of his extra precautions at all, and had been up and about by six…and that was excluding the cup of hot chocolate he'd had near midnight. His mother, apparently pre-empting him, had one made by the time he'd stumbled in to the kitchen, and he'd drank it thankfully and stumbled back to bed.
She'd also had fried egg rolls made when he got downstairs after deciding he couldn't sleep – or pretending to sleep, since it had been quite a long night and he wasn't sure how much of that had actually gone towards sleeping – any longer. She herself was humming quietly as she piled clothes in to the laundry.
Takuya hugged her from behind and she rubbed his hair soothingly. But she didn't say anything, and Takuya was glad. He didn't need to hear anything like "your friend will be okay" until he actually knew what was wrong, and his visit to the Minamotos the afternoon before had only told him Kouji was in the hospital.
He didn't even know which hospital. They weren't exactly a rarity.
He left the house once his mother had finished loading the washing machine and packed him lunch "just in case", yelling a greeting at his father and brother who'd been awoken by the alarms he'd set, made it to the Minamoto's probably too early to be polite, and spent the rest of the time walking up and down the street until the big clock in the park said it was almost eight.
He knocked this time, and the Minamotos came out. Maybe they'd spent the extra time waiting for him as well. They only exchanged greetings as Mr Minamoto unlocked the car.
Takuya got in to the backseat and the trip to the hospital was made, short and silent. Parking was plentiful that early and it seemed the Minamotos knew where they were going. Takuya only trailed behind them. Mr Minamoto walked fast. Which was good; it left less time to worry.
It also meant someone was liable to bump in to somebody, but he supposed Mr Minamoto must've had good reflexes because he managed to stop himself from doing just that when the door he was reaching for slid open.
Takuya, behind him, couldn't see his expression, or Mrs Minamoto's, but he could see the boy's.
But what struck him before that was how eerily it looked like Koji's. In fact, the name was half out of his mouth before he cut himself off. 'No, you're…not Koji.'
The eyes were slightly darker, and the skin slightly paler. And the hair was cut differently and slightly lighter too.
The boy tore his eyes away from the adults – or maybe he'd jumped at the chance for a distraction because Takuya definitely saw relief amongst the new emotions on his face – and looked at Takuya. 'Koichi Kimura.'
A nurse appeared behind him. 'Two visitors at a time,' she warned, looking at the four in the doorway.
'I'll wait,' Takuya volunteered. It only made sense the parents should be first after all.
He went to the couches he'd passed near the lifts, and Koichi followed him.