A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed and fav'd and support my little word vomits! You're all awesome. Also, don't worry, I'm not that mean, but yes cliffhangers ahaha
Thank you so much to Kariko-chan, A Smiling Cat, Booklover2526, booklover1209, sexy Seren, and Guest for reviewing! I'm glad you like this, and apologies for the cliffhanger and feels haha! And thanks for liking the MidoTaka scene!
Fiammie: Yesss he's the rainbow! Like the manga said, he's the one that binds them together (although in this case, it's a kind of feelsy way of doing it). Thanks for your support! I'm so glad you keep reading and sending such lovely reviews :)
It was a strange thing, Haizaki thought, to have had to wait a whole week before getting off his ass and going over to visit Nijimura in the hospital, and now finding himself sprinting back without hesitation the very next day. Much more that Kise was running beside him, despite the fact that he looked worn out and feverish (and that last they checked, they were on crappy terms with each other). Although neither of them could very well think about how exactly that happened when they were rushing to the hospital, their panic almost boiling over as they ran without pause feeling like their clothes were soaked with the weight of their worry and dread.
It had felt like multiple bricks dropping down the pit of Haizaki's gut, so much sharper and heavier than the first time he was told that Nijimura was hospitalized. He'd finally seen him after so long and felt like he was in middle school again, and now it was like he was a kid all over again, standing by the doorway waiting for his father to come home, and instead getting greeted with the news that he wasn't going to walk through their door again.
He shook his head—he didn't want to think of things like that. Or of what could be waiting for them at the hospital. He could only hear the rapid footfalls of their running, and their hurried panting. When Kise's breaths started coming out as ragged gasps, Haizaki skidded and slowed, glancing at his former teammate. He would never admit it out loud, but they were once part of the same team, and they did play together. They never got along all that well, but they weren't enemies—you could call it a code of sorts, delinquent or no.
Haizaki huffed, matching Kise's pace and bringing out a hand over the blonde's chest, blocking him. Haizaki gave a soft push as he slowed, seeing Kise's flushed face and tired eyes. "Wait," he said.
Kise slowed to a stop, panting heavily and crumpling down with his hands on his knees, face twisted in pain. "Shit, sorry."
Haizaki raised an eyebrow, hand hovering over Kise's back. "The heck are you apologizing for," he said, pulling his hand back and tucking it into his pocket. "Don't run if you can't keep up."
Kise ran a hand through his hair, and Haizaki couldn't help but notice (and feel annoyed at) how he even had that stupid model look despite the tousled hair, sweat, and what looks like a fever. There's got to be a limit to how good someone can look in any situation, dammit. "I know," Kise huffed, heaving himself up. "I'm good. Let's go."
"Cut the crap," Haizaki spat, walking towards a bench and grabbing the back of Kise's collar, dragging him and dumping him to sit there. "You're gonna be mistaken for a patient if you go the way you are now."
Kise looked at him with a small hint of surprise, and then bent to rest his elbows on his knees, hiding his face with his hair. "Sorry. You can go ahead."
"Stop fucking apologizing," Haizaki barked, getting a couple of drinks from a vending machine behind the bench. He put one bottle on Kise's head and flopped to sit next to him. "We'll go when you catch your breath."
Kise fumbled with the bottle, and stared at it before turning to look at Haizaki. "This is..?"
"Hah?!" Haizaki growled, fixing Kise a look. "You blind? It's a sports drink, moron. You drink it."
"But you're—" Kise started, wide eyes squinting. "You—what—" he blinked a few times, and then felt a warmth at his chest, looking away. "Thanks. Sorry."
"I said stop fuckin' apologizing!" Haizaki groaned, making Kise only laugh. He gave him another look as they both drank. Beside him, Kise had some pretty dark eyebags, and was undoubtedly tired out and probably running a fever. He still pulled off the fresh, handsome model look, but you could see that he was worn out. "You look like crap."
Kise sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't think that filling in for a job was gonna tire me out this much. Though I think I'm mostly just stressed out with worry for Nijimura-senpai."
Haizaki understood the latter bit, but he wondered about the former. "Job?"
Kise took another sip from his bottle. "Yeah, I'm filling in for Nijimura-senpai's job at a restaurant. With Aominecchi."
Haizaki had heard about Nijimura's ridiculous amount of part-time jobs, and looking at Kise now, finding out that he was helping out in such a way, Haizaki felt both a pang of annoyance and softness towards the model. "That stupid captain's way too responsible for his own good," was all he could manage to say.
"Damn right," Kise nodded, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. He moved to stand up, partially wobbling. "We have to go, after all."
Haizaki smacked a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down. "I said rest up first, dammit," he snapped, glaring at Kise. "We won't be of any help whatever time we get there. And like I said, you look just about ready to get confined in there, so don't make things worse."
Kise groaned, but relented, his breaths still coming up a bit short and his cheeks running red. "I'm just—really worried."
Haizaki looked towards the small gap in the surrounding buildings and spotted the glint of the setting sun. His expression softened, serious and grave. He let out a breath, "I know," and it was barely a whisper. "Me too."
It wasn't long before Kise forced himself up and determinedly made to go, and as much as Haizaki felt like he should have rested a bit longer, he couldn't wait either. They went from walking to jogging to almost running again when they neared, and Haizaki couldn't pay much concern to how Kise was roughly panting—nor could he find it in himself to stop him again, not when his gold eyes were dead on serious and resolute.
When they'd hurried through the reception and rushed to the fourth floor, it was at the worst possible timing that they could have reached there. Right then, rounding the corner, came a hospital bed being wheeled towards the service elevators, surrounded by nurses and doctors rattling off all these medical terms that didn't register to either Haizaki or Kise. All they could focus on was Nijimura lying there, shock-still and unconscious, breathing through a mask, scarily pale and limp. The two of them froze, eyes wide as they just watched the rush of medical staff along the bed.
"Nijimura-senpai…" Kise breathed, leaning forward, yet unable to move. Beside him, Haizaki felt like his heart was hammering in his chest, and he felt stuck. They vaguely noticed that following close by the bed were Aomine and Akashi, and behind them were the tall figures of Murasakibara and Midorima, worry sprawled all over their features.
Without really thinking, Haizaki went into the elevator after the hospital bed, and Kise followed alongside the others. The service elevator was large enough to fit the lot of them, but their closeness to Nijimura gripped at their hearts, making their minds race with worry and fear and anxiety. To one side, Akashi was speaking to a doctor, serious and grave. Haizaki couldn't process what they were talking about so quickly—something about some kind of rupture and an operation, something urgent and dangerous—all he could really register was that Nijimura wasn't awake and something bad was going on with him.
Across him, Akashi seemed to have nothing else to say then, and turned to look at Nijimura, staring intently at his face. His mismatched eyes were stark with concern, and there was a slight furrow to his brows. Seemingly on impulse, Akashi's hand went towards Nijimura's, and he held it, his fingers lightly pressed on Nijimura's wrist. His eyes flickered briefly on where he held Nijimura's wrist, and Haizaki followed his gaze.
Akashi was checking Nijimura's pulse, he realized, but he saw how it wasn't just that. Haizaki was the same once—he wanted to have something to hold onto, to ground him. Something to reassure him that Nijimura was there. Alive.
And when briefly, just slightly, Nijimura's hand twitched, giving Akashi's a small, weak squeeze, waves of relief came surging through them. Akashi snapped his head to look at Nijimura, eyes wide, and just stared, as if waiting for him to wake up. Haizaki did the same, then looked at Akashi's hand on Nijimura's and saw that Akashi had gripped their senior's hand tighter—and this time, he really meant to.
The elevator dinged and slid open, and without pause, Nijimura was wheeled straight out. They all still followed, but after rounding a corner and reaching the end of a hall, the doctor put a hand on Akashi's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, you can't follow in there," he said, glancing at all the others. "But I promise, we'll do our best."
There was a short pause before Akashi released his hold on Nijimura's hand, then looked straight at the doctor. "Take care of him," he spoke, the usual firmness of his voice weaker. "Please." And he gave a small bow.
"Please," came the echoes of Aomine, Kise, Midorima, and Murasakibara, all of them bowing. Haizaki followed suit, bowing his head slightly, unable to say anything.
The doctor gave them a look, swallowing, and then nodded as the doors to the operating room closed.
The silence afterwards stretched out into anxious moments, and it felt like a heavy air stretched around their necks, constricting and edgy. Nearest the doors, Aomine stared, hand hovering in the air as if he were still trying to hold onto Nijimura's hospital bed. Behind him, Midorima and Murasakibara were silent, serious eyes trained in the same direction. Akashi stood still, straight and solid, and there was a tension in his shoulders that seemed to make him look smaller. It was Aomine who moved first, exhaling a rough sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.
The tense air loosened, and Akashi bowed his head, closing his eyes, breathing slowly. To the side, Midorima clenched his fists, and everyone else seemed to snap out of their paralysis as they tried to pull themselves together.
Aomine spoke first, noticing Kise and Haizaki. "Kise. Haizaki."
Kise blinked, inhaling a rough breath, as if he'd forgotten to breathe when they got there. He wobbled a bit, putting out a hand to the wall at his side to keep himself steady, running a hand through his hair with a shuddering sigh.
"Are you okay?" Aomine asked, finally moving from where he stood. He pocketed his hands and walked towards Kise, who shut his eyes, trying to keep from losing balance.
"Yeah, I just—" he started, voice rough. He coughed. "Just a little tired."
Without pause, Aomine slid a hand under Kise's bangs, pressing his palm against his forehead. Kise blinked, tottering slightly, and after a beat, Aomine tsked.
"You've got a fever, stupid," he grumbled, pulling back his hand. "You ran all the way here, didn't you? You shouldn't have pushed yourself."
"I'm fine," Kise answered. "We took a break along the way."
Aomine looked at Haizaki with a pleased sort of surprise. "You…"
Kise let out another breath, fighting down a headache. Akashi turned towards him and checked his forehead as well.
"I'm fine," Kise grunted, staggering back a bit, pouting at Akashi.
"No you're not," Akashi said sternly. "Don't be stubborn."
Kise gulped, realizing what Akashi meant. He deflated, sheepish, and Aomine gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"I'll take your shift tonight," he said, walking past Kise. "So rest up. Don't be more stupid than you are now."
Kise sneered at him, glaring. "You little—ah!" he blinked in surprise, noticing someone in front of Aomine. "Kurokocchi! Kagamicchi!"
Aomine huffed, noticing Kuroko and Kagami, panting lightly as they approached, clear worry all over their faces.
"Tetsu," Aomine nodded, seeing Kuroko's furrowed brows and obvious effort at trying to keep calm.
"Everyone—" Kuroko said, looking them over, his voice barely steady. "We went to Nijimura-san's room but no one was there, even Nijimura-san. What happened?"
"Is Nijimura-san okay?" Kagami asked.
"Yeah, Daiki" Haizaki snapped. "What the heck happened? What was that?"
Aomine's expression turned grave, his eyes shifting down. Akashi and Midorima were the same.
"We're not too sure," Midorima spoke. "They say it's something with Nijimura-san's appendix—they needed to operate immediately or else—"
He stopped, and no one needed to hear what he meant to say. Haizaki gritted his teeth, clenching his fists at his sides. Kise furrowed his brows, face crumpled in anxiety, and Kuroko looked downcast. Behind him, Kagami was just as worried, his jaw slightly ajar.
"Dammit," Haizaki grumbled, feeling useless all over again. Everyone else felt the same.
"…What's that you're holding, Tetsu?" Aomine pointed out, noticing something Kuroko had in his hand.
Kuroko looked down at it. "Ah, this?" It was a small, slightly wrinkled piece of paper. He unfolded it as he stepped forward. "I found this in Nijimura-san's room. It was on the floor by the side table."
The others moved closer to look, and found a familiar scrawl written on it.
"This is…" Kise started, looking like he was about to cry.
Kuroko gripped the piece of paper a little harder. "It's Nijimura-san's handwriting."
"Yeah," Midorima muttered, turning to look away, covering his eyes by pushing up his glasses. "He probably dropped it when he was brought out..."
"Tch," Haizaki grunted, turning away, gritting his teeth and digging his fingers so deep into his palms that they were white. "That idiot." He strode off, leaving, feeling his eyes prickle as he walked away.
"Ugh," Kise groaned. He pressed his forearm over his eyes as drops started threatening to escape from them, his cold starting to act up.
Kuroko stayed silent, and he saw how Haizaki left, and how Aomine had set his jaw, clenching his fists. Murasakibara's stomach was grumbling, but it looked like he didn't notice, and Midorima stepped away from them, bowing his head and keeping a hand over his glasses. Akashi continued to stare at the piece of paper, gazing at the writings on it until he closed his eyes, and then looked at Kuroko. He curled Kuroko's fingers closed around the paper, and gave him a small smile.
"Keep this for now, Kuroko," he said. "Until Nijimura-san comes back."
Kuroko looked at Akashi for a moment, then nodded, giving the redhead's hand a very small squeeze before pocketing the piece of paper. Akashi gave him a nod, his sad smile widening just a little, and he tucked his hands into his pockets, trying to be as composed as he could despite the fact that they were shaking.
[tbc]
A/N: This is also on my ao3! The link to there is on my profile-just in case some of you like to read it over there and download. Find out in the next chapters what happens! (And what was on that piece of paper). Thank you again for reading! The favs and reviews are always very appreciated :)