A/N: Apologies for the incredibly belated update! Funny story: I was actually hospitalised a few weeks back with some reasons somewhat related to overworking and oh the irony of it all. Still recovering from that, but now I've refreshed my knowledge of hospital stays again and am still holding a special place in my writer heart for this fic, and a bit more now, so rest assured it's still going on.
To booklover1209: haha I'm happy for your shirt. Yes I am here to induce diabetes.
Booklover2526: Thank you so much! And yeah, you're right, it was in Nijimura's POV so he didn't actually notice Kuroko that well, plus the fact that Kuroko was very likely hidden behind Aomine or Kise, but he was there! He's just being Kuroko you know, really hard to notice.
100percentcocoa: THANK YOU wow I'm so glad you like it and cried mwahaha but yeah wow I totally relate to everything you said, that's exactly what I imagined Nijimura would say to Akashi too and I have so much feels for all of them so I'm glad we resonate on this and I love you too ahhhjkdsh
pleb: thank you again and I hope my reply to you via AO3 answered your questions!
jazzmonkey: thank you so much you're so sweet ahhh I love them all and thank you for the comment and noticing all those things!
Orangetabby101: they need to be happy yes, and about Nijimura's condition...well...you'll see! Sorry for the late update!
Fiammie: AWW thank you so much for always dropping a review! I'm sorry for the really late update, and thank you always for staying tuned to this!
machi-pan: oh gosh thank you so much your review really means a lot! I'm happy enough that awesome sweet people like you are reading it and really, thank you for taking the time to read this and leaving such a lovely message. I totally agree with you on Nijimura and Akashi hihi QuQ
ame no itteki: he does! Which is one of the reasons he's sick in the first place, that cute idiot. I assure you he'll get as much scolding as Nijimura plus his usual with Kasamatsu and his regular bullies haha!
hplvr15 and Hikary Sanoko thank you so much for your wonderful messages! I'm so glad you all like this word vomit of mine ;u;
Here's a freakishly long chapter to make up for the long wait (and the fact that I couldn't cut it up shorter or into a separate chapter)!
It would sometimes slip one's mind that a huddle of young basketball players had another version of themselves outside of the court—high school students with studies and hobbies and clothes beyond jerseys and uniforms and training attires. With the separation of year levels and the resolute focus on practice, barely any thought was spared beyond the gymnasiums and courts where they were a team. It was even weirder then, that the group of basketball players you'd least likely associate the word 'team' with looked nothing less than that, all passed out around a hospital bed, looking as if they were guarding the person who was lying on it—the one who had inadvertently brought them there together in the first place.
"They're really all down for the count," Takao said, barely a whisper, as he poked the shoulder of his partner: Midorima had nodded off on his own stuffed cat lucky item, arms neatly folded around the toy and head rested on them, glasses awkwardly askew. Takao carefully pulled off Midorma's glasses and placed it next to him, chuckling at the small red marks that the spectacles left as dents on his face.
"It's been a tiring week for all of them, I'm sure," Kasamatsu sighed. He raised an eyebrow at Kise, sound asleep, with two layers of jackets laid on top of him, neither of them his. For extra measure, since the rain had made everything colder, he shrugged off his own jacket and carefully laid it over Kise's shoulders, giving a gentle pat before stepping back.
"This is so surreal," Izuki pointed out, gaping at the farrago that was the former-Teiko lineup. Beside him, Hyuga had a similar expression, jaw hanging ever so slightly open, glasses sliding down in confusion.
"This is so great," Kiyoshi chimed in. "They're all so cute right now, aren't they?"
"Sure they are, so long as they stay asleep," Imayoshi, who had bumped into them where they had taken lunch, commented, head cocked to one side, expression thoughtful.
"Can't really see how these guys are complete monsters on the court with the way they are now, huh," Takao said, a corner of his lips quirked up.
"I gotta say, I'm kind of jealous," Imayoshi said, looking at his team's ace, sleeping like an idiot. "Aomine's never really…nice. I mean, he's not a bad guy, but right now he's a downright sweetheart, by Aomine standards."
"I can kind of relate," Ootsubo, who had come alongside Miyaji and Imayoshi, agreed. "Midorima's a complete tsundere, but right now he's not even trying to hide the fact that he's really concerned about Nijimura. The others too."
"Hah, their middle school versions I remember never really looked as much of a 'team' as they do now," Miyaji said, eyes soft. "Yeah, I feel a bit of it too."
The group of visitors looked at the hospital bed where Nijimura lay, gently asleep, surrounded by a mess of his former teammates silently snoring, completely knocked out. Akashi had nodded off on a couch they had pulled close to the bed, arms crossed over his chest, with a small stack of notebooks atop his lap. To his left, Murasakibara was curled up, head lightly resting on Akashi's shoulder, with one hand carefully guarding the snacks on the bedside table. To Akashi's right, Kuroko had fallen asleep on his folded arms atop a bag he used as a pillow, bent over the edge of the bed by Nijimura's side. Beside him, Aomine had dozed off in a similar position, head pillowed on his arms, and brows smoothened out into an expression of calm slumber. Midorima was resting on his stuffed toy across him, his glasses next to him and Kise, who was deep asleep, cheeks faintly flushed, eyelashes fluttering lightly. Haizaki was beside him, a small space away, his arm bent over the side table as he rested his cheek on his palm, head thumped on the wall, looking like he had fought a battle against sleep and lost without knowing.
"Must have been one hell of a captain," Takao muttered, tinkering with the basketball keychain in his pocket.
Imayoshi gave a small huff, his fingers toying with the small plastic bag of food he'd brought—a small greeting for Nijimura, and a snack for Aomine. He wasn't joking when he said he had felt a small tinge of jealousy for the younger ex-captain, and he had to admit that even he was surprised he'd felt that. He had never tried to be a perfect captain—heck, he knew he could never be—and it was completely fine with him, so long as he keeps the team together and scores his share, though even that was supplemented with actually getting Aomine to participate in their matches, much less their training. He was always quite…lost, in one way or another. And it was never a smooth ride, especially where the ace of the Generation of Miracles was involved, but he had never thought to doubt him, and that was enough, as it was.
There was just something about the way Aomine had been so visibly (almost troublingly) spurred into a flurry of concern and worry, almost as easily as he'd skip practice, though not any less anxiously. The same went for his fellow Miracle teammates—Imayoshi didn't particularly go beyond being mere acquaintances with the lot of them, but the little bits of them that he'd already seen and encountered, coupled with Aomine and Momoi's own retrospection, more or less made the image of "kind, caring kouhai" an incongruous picture to what was once a basketball team that was more of a gathering of prodigies than an actual team, especially towards someone who was once the captain of that said team.
It made him wonder, then, what it was about that ex-captain that allowed him to manage being the leader to a group of insanely talented and skilled athletes, all of which in their phase of rapid growth. It would be a point of argument to say that they were all just kids then, still slaves to the sport like a candle's wick to the flame. In its own way, however, it would have been a more grueling, even punishing experience, to have been so tremendously surpassed and overtaken by the younger generation, so much so that the seniors were practically replaced—subbed out for the Miracles. Such an experience, Imayoshi knew, was bound to be peppered with bitterness and frustration, and yet he had never heard of any disputes concerning the seniors apart from Haizaki's infamous behavior. It piqued his interest to learn of Teiko's methods: how the prestigous school had stood by and triumphed with their mantra of victory, and produced generation after generation of champions. How it had made victory the spark that would set the team ablaze, tearing through competitions like a forest fire with no other purpose but to burn. All to the point of being hailed as Miracles, the strongest team to have ever set foot on the middle school basketball scene, shining brightly enough to cast a massive shadow where everyone else resided, their own teammates the closest to them, yet in the darkest side of the shade, completely overshadowed.
And still he'd heard that Nijimura had even given up his position as captain to Akashi, a junior. He had known, as undoubtedly everyone else knew as well, that those younger members would overtake them, and he had stepped down, pushing them up. Nijimura—and the rest of the Teiko team—stepped aside to let them move forward, ahead of all of them, and with barely even a shred of ill will, never mind the fact that he'd done it in the first place.
Imayoshi sighed, watching as Hyuga shrugged off his own jacket to lay it atop Kuroko's back, and Kiyoshi putting his large one spread over both Akashi and Murasakibara, fiddling around to try to completely cover them both. Imayoshi supposed he could deposit his jacket over Aomine's back as well, but when he looked over to their ace, he saw that he already had one on, and a weird fondness poked at his chest when he saw that the jacket turned out to be their Touou one, which Aomine probably wore more often than their basketball uniform, now that he thought about it.
He gave a light chuckle, setting the snacks he'd brought beside Aomine's drooling face, and ruffled his blue hair. Aomine mumbled a bit, shifting under his palm, and then settled, leaning slightly into the warmth. Imayoshi is reminded of a cat more than a monstrous player, and as much as he'd liken Teiko to some kind of military camp which was training soldiers, he figured they were all just brats anyway, just with some solid, mature regard towards strength and skill, probably years ahead of most of them in terms of understanding the concept. For them, the strong survive—the strong emerge victorious, and if you aren't able to step up and stay there, then it simply means that you aren't strong enough. It's simple, logical, and straightforward. Imayoshi rather liked the blunt austerity in that, but he also knew that it was something that middle schoolers aren't meant to deal with at such an early age, at least not at that level—a level that grew exponentially given the Miracles' talents. Knowing that, Imayoshi understood Aomine, at least as best he could, as his captain. Strong as Aomine may be, there was still a time when he would smile and laugh playing the sport that he loved, and that it was in his time in middle school that that smile had started to fade, and then eventually was lost. That kind of effect, which had similarly happened to the rest of their team, is something that was almost exclusive to them, and may as well have been as damaging—maybe even more—than those who had lost to them, so much that they'd been twisted and isolated, and took on the title of 'Miracle' without having asked to, cracking them and being made to carry all that broken glass over to high school, sharp and cold but brilliant all the same.
Imayoshi looked over to Nijimura, who held a small, colorful band of cloth in his hand. He recalled hearing that Nijimura had taken on three jobs alongside caring for his siblings while being a student, worked overtime for the sake of his own students, had once taken over for a friend's shift when he'd gotten sick, and subsequently overworked himself to a near-critical condition. He was a pretty damn selfless guy, but Imayoshi also thought he was reckless and stupid, but it was the kind of stupid that brought all sorts of brats together, even just to tell you that you were stupid, and subtly remind you that they were there either way, despite the stupidity.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Miyaji poked.
"The secret of genius, I guess?" Imayoshi answered without thinking.
"Ha?" one of Miyaji's eyebrows shot up.
"What is it then?" Ootsubo asked, glancing at the Miracles. "The secret."
"Stupidity," Imayoshi answered, looking as if it was the most logical conclusion. "Probably."
"What," Miyaji stared at him, not amused. After a beat he raised his hands, defeated. "I don't even want to try understanding."
Just as Imayoshi was about to attempt explaining, the door to the room clicked open, and in stepped Himuro, followed closely by Kagami. They both carried a small horde of food, and paused when they saw the others.
"Oh, you guys are here," Himuro commented, blinking once before breaking into a smile, continuing into the room.
"Captain," Kagami spoke, both out of surprise and greeting.
"Yo," Hyuga nodded. "How was karate after we left?"
Kagami grimaced. "Things calmed down thanks to you guys, but then we got caught up in the rain, and now Kise's definitely sick and—eh?" His eyes had shifted towards the hospital bed, eyebrows shooting up just as Himuro's furrowed.
"He fell asleep," Himuro sighed.
"What do you mean?" Kiyoshi asked, head cocked to one side.
"Shuu—Nijimura woke up just a while ago, so we went out to tell the nurses and get some food but then—" Himuro glanced at Nijimura. "As you can see, he's asleep again."
"Should we try to…wake him up?" Kagami asked, fists clenching and unclenching around the handles of the packs of food they brought.
"I don't know," Himuro pondered, trying to maneuver around the sleeping team surrounding the hospital bed. He managed to set down one of the bags he had on a bedside table, then tentatively held onto the rest. "Maybe we should let him rest for a bit."
"But what about lunch?" Kagami pointed out. "Kise hasn't eaten yet either and he needs to eat and the food's gonna get—" sudden movement caught his eye, distracting him.
Nijimura had turned his head to the side, eyes struggling to flutter open. His lashes trembled as his eyelids fought against the sleep trying to keep hold of him.
"Shuu!" Himuro perked up, stepping as close as he could get.
Nijimura forced his eyes open, head groggily squirming against the pillow as he blinked. His fingers absently curled around the colorful clump of cloth on his stomach. "Tatsuya," he breathed, his voice soft with rest. "Ah, sorry—I nodded off."
Himuro gave a huff. "Geez, you don't have to apologize. You need rest."
Nijimura pouted, the sour expression dulled by sleepiness. "I've been resting for days."
"And that's more than you've had in what, a year?" Himuro retorted, pointing a finger at the indignant patient. "Stop worrying about everyone else, it's making everyone else worry about you." Himuro sighed at his own statement, eyes scanning the immediate surroundings of Nijimura's bed, which consisted of the ever-feared and celebrated Generation of Miracles, curled up beside each other, around their ex-captain.
NIjimura blinked, then looked to the side. He blinked again when he saw Murasakibara and Akashi right by his head, and saw Kuroko and Aomine sitting beside each other like they always used to, warming up his left side. His eyes widened a fraction when he saw Haizaki on the other side, sleeping like a wreck beside the still picture-perfect Kise, who was bundled up in layers of different jackets, dozing off beside a similarly napping Midorima and his stuffed animal—no doubt his lucky item for the day, Nijimura knew.
"Is Kise okay?" Nijimura asked, then turned his head to the other side, peering at Aomine. "And—what about Aomine?"
"What did I just say," Himuro groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Kise's got a cold I think," Kagami huffed. "And Aomine's fine? Why are you asking about Aomine?"
Nijimura stared at Aomine's hunched form for a moment, then closed his eyes, turning back to face them. "Nothing," he said. He blinked again and just then realized that Takao, Kasamatsu, Imayoshi, Hyuga, and the others were gathered behind his former team. "Wha—you guys came." It sounded almost like a question.
"Yo," Takao greeted, grinning. "We're back."
"Pardon the intrusion," Ootsubo nodded slightly.
"I wasn't able to properly bring you something last time," Imayoshi spoke, lifting the food he brought. "But I hope this is okay."
"Ah, you all really didn't have to," Nijimura shifted, more awake now. "Thank you very much…Imayoshi-san, right?"
Imayoshi's smile widened. "That's right."
"Aomine's captain."
"This year," Imayoshi nodded, then shrugged. "Though I barely even manage to get him to practice, sometimes even play."
A sad look tugged down Nijimura's eyes for a moment—when he looked back up, straight at Imayoshi, there was something there that Imayoshi could only describe as strong, despite his state. "He's your team's ace, right?"
"Undeniably," Imayoshi answered without pause.
Nijimura nodded, looking satisfied. A soft smile tugged at his lips. "You know, back when he was a first year, during the district's informal competition for the top ten middle school teams, Aomine tried to threaten the coach and me with getting himself demoted for Kuroko's sake."
Imayoshi's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"Ah, was that the one from before Kuroko became a regular?" Hyuga asked.
"Yeah," NIjimura answered. "He'd overheard the coach saying that he'd demote Kuroko before the second match of the day, and Aomine jumped right in and started yelling at us to give him a second chance. He went and said that if it didn't work out, then he should be demoted too. And it was all based on a gut feeling."
"Wha—" Imayoshi half-gasped. "What an idiot."
Nijimura chuckled lightly. "Right? Things ended up working out, however, and incredibly well."
The others nodded, knowing that much. Imayoshi pushed his glasses up his nose, thinking hard.
"That brat, Aomine," Nijimura added. "He loves basketball more than anything."
A beat settled solidly against Imayoshi's breath, and his lips slowly curved up into a smile, mirroring Nijimura's warm one. He had been thinking of various questions to ask and an equal variety of answers he expected to get, but just that statement was enough: Aomine loves basketball. No further answers or explanations were needed—everything from Aomine's past in Teiko to his current standing as the ace of Touou, from the way he'd skip practice but play in street courts on random days, to how he'd go to matches at his own pace and still play exceptionally well despite everything; how he still had a soft spot for his former teammates, but the burning desire to really play—it would all be summed up by that simple statement.
"And," Nijimura added. "It's a team sport for a reason."
Imayoshi's smile only grew wider, and he sighed, both resigned and satisfied. "That's true."
The two of them shared a knowing look, and NIjimura somehow felt like he could trust in Touou, despite what he's heard about them. He recalled a time when he had asked Aomine why he played basketball. He knew that the young ace had started at a very young age, but to have continued it and gotten as far as he has was something else. He had asked for matches enough times to prompt NIjimura to question it, partially given his background with another sport—a martial art, even.
"Hey, why do you play basketball?" Nijimura asked, panting lightly. He had just finished a third one-on-one with Aomine, and though the blue-haired ace was still lacking in stamina, he'd started to keep up more in the recent weeks.
Aomine took a long swig of his drink, exhaling loudly after. "Why—?" he blinked, wiping at his mouth. "Because it's fun, why else?"
Nijimura blinked at him, staring. Aomine looked at him like it was the most obvious answer in the world, and Nijimura almost felt stupid for even asking—Aomine of all people. He blinked again, then snorted—their team's young power forward and ace, leaps and bounds ahead of most kids of his generation in terms of skill, only getting better and better to the point of genius and what's being whispered as a Miracle, and there was no simpler answer to being such a force than the sport being fun.
"It must have been pretty hard," Takao started, choosing his words carefully. "To have had them in your team."
Nijimura understood what he really meant. "Apart from the glorious mess that they were, well yeah, I guess," he considered. "But in Teiko…" one of his eyebrows went up, pondering. "It's the strong who move forward. It was really just that simple. And these brats—" he looked over at his former team. "—they deserved it. Other schools and spectators and reporters would always pour on the compliments, but our team…we never really told them, not exactly—almost like we never had the time to—but they're amazing."
Takao and the others were caught off-guard by Nijimura's words: sincere, straightforward, and proud, like a parent to their child, or a brother to his siblings. It was definitely an opinion shared by many, but not one that was commonly regarded as positively as Nijimura did.
A small shift to one side of the bed jostled Nijimura a bit, making him feel a small pang at his side. He glanced down and saw Kise stirring a little, withdrawing closer to himself and further into the warmth of the jackets blanketing him. Behind him, Kasamatsu moved automatically, almost absently, smoothing out the jackets to keep them snug around his junior's shoulders.
Nijimura laid back, trying to ignore the small throbs at his side. "I'm glad they have good senpai."
"Well, we're doing our best," Kasamatsu smirked.
"Kise seems to really like you guys," Nijimura commented, feeling the pain ebb away just as quickly as it had flared. "He talks about you almost as much as he used to talk about Aomine and Kuroko."
Kasamatsu twitched, feeling both endeared and embarrassed. "R-really now."
Nijimura chuckled. "That kid's got so much energy all the time," he mused. "Compared to the others, he was pretty high on stamina, like a tireless brat. Always playing one-on-one with Aomine after practice, over and over until it got dark. I guess that was what Aomine got for hitting him with a basketball."
"He what now?" Imayoshi asked, amused.
"Aomine once managed to let a basketball fly out of the gym and hit Kise on the head," Nijimura told them, almost shaking his head. "Because of that, Kise got into basketball after seeing Aomine play."
"Wow, what a basketball history," Kasamatsu sighed, bringing his hand over his face. "To think it was that simple."
"Yeah well, he had been club-hopping before he found the basketball club," Nijimura recalled, smirking. "He pretty much devastated every other sports club back then by performing better than every star player of each team within the span of a week or two."
Kasamatsu sighed, half groaning into his palm. "Talent is really something else," he huffed. "Makes me want to kick him."
"Geez, I know what you mean," Takao pointed, remembering how Kise had barely a lick of karate knowledge before that day and yet managed to pick up on the martial art enough to get scouted by masters. "I heard Kise got into the first string after playing basketball for just two weeks. Is that true."
Nijimura snorted. "Yeah, it was the fastest I've seen anyone improve."
Takao sighed, defeated. "Whatever, man," he gave up, shrugging.
"He's really a born athlete, then," Ootsubo commented, stroking his chin. "He was probably scouted by the other clubs, so why—?"
"Why basketball?" Miyaji completed.
Nijimura shrugged, a slight jerk of his shoulders. "He was bored."
"Hah?" Miyaji's jaw went slack.
Kasamatsu looked at Nijimura, then at Kise. He wondered what it would have been like without Kise on their team. How they would have managed to stand their ground against the Generation of Miracles that had scattered throughout different schools, scouted for their talent and ability to lead their teams to victory. With all the matches that they'd gone through, he really felt then how significant Kise was to the team, how strong they were because of him. With his abilities, he would have been able to be the ace of many other sports, and Kasamatsu wondered vaguely what it might be like if those other teams had someone like Kise.
Kasamatsu shook his head—it was no use wondering about it: Kise is their basketball team's ace. Despite everything, he was glad that was the case.
"He was a pretty popular guy at school," Nijimura said. "And there was a time when people talked about him club-hopping and being way too good at picking up sports. I suppose there was no challenge, no thrill."
"No fun," Imayoshi added, eyes flickering to his own team's ace.
Nijimura nodded. "Yeah. And then he met Aomine, and it was like a fire was lit in him," he remembered how excited Kise was when he got promoted to the first string, if only to have gotten a step closer to Aomine and the others of his year. "He'd challenge Aomine to play one-on-one at every chance, and he didn't win a single match. But I'd never seen someone look happier about losing so much."
"He's like Aomine, then," Imayoshi said. "In a way."
"They want to find someone they can't beat?" Takao half complained. "Huh. I didn't really think of it that way. Is that what it's like when you're just head and shoulders above everyone? They…don't want to be above everyone?"
Nijimura gave a small shrug. "Hell if I know. It depends on the person, I guess. But there's no fun if things are boring, so why stay at the top if there's no fun in it?"
"I don't know whether or not I feel better about being a normal person now," Takao snorted, grinning.
"I haven't really been following the conversation," Kagami spoke, voice slightly muffled by something he was eating. "But I think it's more fun being the challenger."
Nijimura looked at the redhead, who looked like he just gave the most obvious answer to the enigma of those who are superior. He had said it like it was nothing, just as natural a notion as walking, and he had eyes the same as Aomine's back then: clear and upfront, lit up with a spark of eagerness and joy for something that they love doing.
Nijimura gave a huff. Kagami was just like them, he thought. If he had been in their middle school, he would have gotten along with the other brats. He could imagine him and Aomine bickering like idiots and having rematches upon rematches of one-on-ones, and Kuroko sighing at them beside Akashi. He could imagine smacking both Kagami and Aomine upside the head, pressuring them to pass their tests so that they could play, and watch them celebrate a victory together with the team. He smiled softly, but pushed the thoughts away from his mind—he wouldn't have wanted Kagami, or anyone else, to go through what they had. To have had their happiness at the sport taken away by a mantra of victory hanging over their heads, or the elevation of greatness isolating them from everyone else.
At the very least, he was thankful that Kagami was the one to have gone against them. And with Kuroko, who had once bound the team together and made it an interesting one.
"I think I agree with you on that, actually," Takao chuckled.
"Yeah, no, this isn't working out," Himuro suddenly huffed from the side. "And Taiga I said you could only eat one first."
"I'm hungry okay?" Kagami pouted, already eating into his second croquette.
"What's not working out?" Imayoshi tried to peek at what they had been doing while speaking with Nijimura.
Himuro put his hands on his hips, scanning the room as Kiyoshi carried the extra food. "We've been trying to figure out how to set the food around so we can eat, but there's barely any space."
Kagami munched on his snack, pushing the last of it into his mouth. He rolled the bedside table closer to the hospital bed. "Well what's important is for NIjimura-san to eat."
"Hey, it's alright, you guys can eat first," Nijimura shifted a little, and then realized he had been holding onto something over his stomach—a familiar band of cloth. He brought it closer to his face. "This is…"
There was a thud, and Kagami cursing under his breath. "Oops, shit. Crap."
NIjimura looked just in time to find Kagami pulling the bedside table away from Aomine's head, which had been knocked forward from what NIjimura suspects was a collision with the said table. He heard Aomine groan against the sheets, squirming groggily until he put his palms heavily on the bed, heaving himself up slowly.
"What the hell…" he grumbled, eyes squinted shut as he brought a hand to the top of his head.
Behind him, Kagami retreated backwards, trying to shuffle away. Across the bed, Imayoshi put his fist over his mouth, holding back the laughter that tried to escape it.
Aomine blinked, rubbing his head, then looked around, slowly registering Haizaki, Midorima, and Kise sleeping across him, just how he remembered seeing them before he'd apparently dozed off. He then spotted Ootsubo, Takao, Miyaji, and then Imayoshi, and promptly woke up.
"What are you doing here," he spat, voice husky with sleep. "There's no practice today." It sounded almost like a command.
"No there isn't, glad you remembered," Imayoshi waved his hands, still smirking. "I just came to visit. Nijimura-kun's experience is something to be respected."
Aomine looked at him with a sour face, which quickly morphed into one of surprised confusion, eyebrow raising. He turned to look at Nijimura, who was about to argue with what Imayoshi had just said, but took notice of Aomine staring at him, then cocked his head to the side, giving the junior a small smirk.
Aomine opened his mouth, dumbstruck, then closed it again before his eyes widened. "Nijimura-senpai!"
Behind him, a short distance away, Kagami sighed in relief, tugging the bedside table further back.
"Yo," Nijimura greeted, fist curling around the armband he held. "Sorry for wo—"
"You don't have to apologize, geez," Aomine said instantly, putting a hand up. He looked stern but his eyes were flooded with relief. "Just—don't do that again."
Nijimura's expression softened, gentle and thankful. "Got it."
Aomine lit up, sitting straight, and he looked just like he did before, albeit with more build and sharp edges, but still the same Aomine that Nijimura once called his teammate. It was like seeing the past when he shook Kuroko awake first, both gently and excitedly. "Tetsu," he poked. "Hey Tetsu, wake up."
Across him, Takao had started poking Midorima's face. Ootsubo and Miyaji both chuckled, talking about how seldom they get to see Midorima so peaceful-looking and unguarded, and each poked his cheek until he grumbled a sleepy and grumpy, "Takao…"
At that, Ootsubo snorted, and Miyaji laughed harder. Takao gripped his chest in mock hurt, grinning, then leaned close to whisper in Midorima's ear, whose eyes suddenly snapped open just as he jerked upward, bumping his head right on Takao's face, sending him careening back with a yelp.
"Yeow!" he cried, putting his hands over his nose. "What the heck, Shin-chan!"
Midorima had slumped back down on the bed, clutching the top of his head in pain. "Takao…" he grumbled, almost growled. "What were you saying just now."
Takao, despite the throbbing at his nose, laughed freely. "It was a joke! I was trying to wake you up."
Midorima sighed, deep and exasperated, then slowly straightened up, rubbing his palms against his eyelids. "So I fell asleep," he mumbled, then squinted as he searched for his glasses.
The frames poked the side of his head, and he turned to find Takao handing them to him, nose red, lopsided grin still plastered on his cheery face. "Thanks," Midorima muttered, wiping his glasses before popping them onto his face. Behind him, Ootsubo smoothened out his hair, and Midorima stiffened up for a moment before turning to find his captain and Miyaji standing right there. "Captain, Miyaji-san," he nodded curtly. Miyaji grinned and ruffled his hair as a greeting, to which Ootsubo frowned at, then tried to smoothen out again. Takao cracked up at how he could tell that Midorima didn't know what to do until Ootsubo was satisfied with how he'd tidied up Midorima's hair.
Midorima sighed, then noticed how he was positioned on the edge of the bed, immediately retreating and looking at NIjimura, worried he might have put weight on his wounded side. When he saw Nijimura chuckling at him, he was stopped short, slowly processing the fact that Nijimura was awake.
"Nnh, what's with all the noise~?" a lazy voice drawled.
On the other side, by Nijimura's head, Murasakibara stirred, long limbs stretching slowly, like a cat. He rubbed his eyes, then blinked at the room, scanning it before his eyes landed on Nijimura. "Mura-chin~!" he lit up, looking surprised. "Are you hungry?"
Nijimura turned to look at him. "Just a little. You can eat first."
"Ah, that's right, it's past lunch," Murasakibara mused, still sleepy. He blinked when he noticed a large jacket fall onto his lap, not quite processing whose it was, or where it came from. It started sliding off of him, towards his side, and beside him, Akashi folded it neatly over his lap.
"Oh, Aka-chin," Murasakibara said. "You fell asleep too?"
Akashi stretched his neck on each side. "I just nodded off for a bit." He looked at Nijimura, a small smile on his lips. "It's good to see you awake, Nijimura-san."
"Yeah. Thanks," Nijimura rested the side of his head on the pillow. His eyebrows knit closer together. "How long have you been awake?"
Akashi's smile widened. "Long enough." He looked around the room, acknowledging the mess that had started to happen, and then looked behind him, spotting Kiyoshi. He twisted his body to face the taller senior, then lifted the jacket towards him. "Thank you for this, Kiyoshi-san."
Kiyoshi blinked, then beamed, gleefully taking the jacket back. "No worries!"
Hyuga raised an eyebrow, whispering near Kiyoshi's ear, "How did he know that that's yours?"
Kiyoshi cocked his head to one side, thinking. "Huh. I wonder."
Nijimura squinted at his former teammate—and captain—and Akashi merely smiled knowingly. Nijimura decided not to dwell on it.
To the side, Kuroko yawned, hand batting away Aomine's weakly. He shifted around his arms, slowly pulling himself backwards into his seat. "I'm awake," he told Aomine, rubbing at his eye with a knuckle. "How's Kise-kun?"
"He's still asleep," Aomine answered, glancing briefly at Kise, quickly doing a double-take when he saw the three jackets piled on him. He raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly before seeing Nijimura again, then poked at Kuroko. "But Nijimura-senpai's awake!"
"He's…?" Kuroko turned to look at the head of the hospital bed. "Ah. Good afternoon, Nijimura-san."
Nijimura moved his gaze to Kuroko, already nodding and answering, "Hey," when he spotted Kuroko's head, to which he snorted at, cheeks getting filled with a laugh he tried to suppress as he beheld the untamed beast that was Kuroko's bedhead. Nijimura's body started shaking uncontrollably in his effort to keep from cracking up, a fist going over his mouth as his face crumpled in happiness.
"Nijimura-san, are you alright?" Kuroko asked, blinking with those big round eyes under the disaster that was his hair.
Akashi looked questioningly at Nijimura, then followed his gaze to Kuroko. His eyes went from Kuroko's face to his hair, and he stared for a full second before he quickly looked away, holding back a snort. Nijimura lost it then, laughing just as Takao and Aomine had noticed and started snickering as well. Kuroko's own teammates chuckled after them, and both Akashi and Hyuga put their hands on Kuroko's head, trying to flatten the spikes that had somehow managed to stick out from it. Kuroko took a moment to realize what was happening, then sighed, smiling.
"Augh, damn," Nijimura laughed, breathy. He started to curl in on himself a little, trying to stop his laughter—it hurt to laugh. The sharp pain in his right side was doing a fine job of waking him up, but it didn't lessen the lighthearted feeling of being able to laugh.
"Whoa hey, what's wrong?" Aomine peered at him, spotting the small tears forming at the corners of Nijimura's eyes.
Nijimura's smile still stretched wide, shoulders shaking from his sniggering. A larger area of his side started throbbing, but he waved a hand at their worries. "Ugh," he managed to choke out. "The wound hurts. Laughing hurts." His abdomen tensing up pulled at his new wound, and he was distantly worried he might tear something, but he still laughed.
The others didn't know what to make of that, but seeing Nijimura laughing despite everything was both reassuring and heartening. Akashi remembered how Nijimura had once laughed so hard he almost fell over when he'd heard Akashi being called 'Akashi-sama', and how it was a reaction new to him, given how well-known his family was. Seeing Nijimura in a similar state now, though muffled, spread a warmth in Akashi that pulled the corners of his lips up, dissipating the weight that had been trying to overwhelm him.
Across the bed from him, Kise stirred, inhaling deeply and withdrawing further into himself and the jackets on him. Nijimura stilled, slowly settling back on his bed, turning to pay close attention to Kise's movements.
"Idiot's gone and gotten himself a cold, huh?" NIjimura coughed, voice airy.
"He has a bit of a tendency to push himself," Kasamatsu sighed. "Which is fine until it turns into overworking." He reached out to ruffle Kise's hair softly, wearing a fond smirk.
"Hey, Kise," Nijimura poked, speaking to the sleeping blonde softly. "Make sure you won't follow my example."
Kise's eyebrows furrowed slightly, then he mumbled, shifting around again. "Senpai…?" he muttered, face wrinkling in grogginess.
Nijimura stroked a small part of Kise's head with his fingertips. "Oops, did I wake you?"
"Mmh," Kise murmured, leaning into the touch. Nijimura is somehow reminded of a puppy. "Niji…senpai?"
Long eyelashes fluttered as Kise tried to move, only ending up dropping his head on its side on the bed, cheek pressed against the mattress as he seemed to slip in and out of sleep. Nijimura sighed, smiling, and gave Kise's hair another fluff before drawing his hand back, noticing how his breathing was a bit nasal, and how his cheeks had a small flush to them.
"So it's true that models look good all the time huh," Takao commented, looking at Kise's sleeping face. "I never thought someone could look good sleeping but I guess models would."
"Huh, you're right," Miyaji agreed, following Takao's gaze. "It's kind of annoying."
At that, everyone turned to look at Kise, still sleeping peacefully, his face more visible now that he'd moved. Kasamatsu confusedly followed suit, seeing a calm, almost defenseless-looking Kise silently snoring below him. A bout of protectiveness suddenly washed over him, seeing how Kise was almost vulnerable to the rest.
"What are you all staring at," Kasamatsu and Nijimura both said.
The two of them looked at each other, and everyone else looked at them, who had spoken at the same time saying the exact same thing in the exact same way.
"Pfft," Takao snorted, hands flying to his stomach. "Nice one."
The others started sniggering at them, and Kasamatsu and Nijimura blinked at each other before they both smirked, chuckling. Under their fingers, Kise's head stirred again, and this time his eyelids flickered open, his amber eyes sleepily staring into space, out-of-focus. He shut them again, then blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. He saw Midorima's green hair in his vision, and focused on that, rubbing an eye with his knuckles while sniffling.
"Kise?" Kasamatsu prodded, bending slightly to peek at Kise's face.
"Kasamatsu…senpai?" Kise mumbled, blinking some more. "Where…" his eyes widened further when he remembered where he was, and he hastily tried to push himself up. "How's Nijimura-senpai—"
"Whoa whoa, slow down," Kasamatsu urged, keeping firm hands on Kise's shoulders to prevent him from shocking his head dizzy. "Don't move so suddenly."
Kise grunted, putting a hand on his head as he felt his world shift. "Ngh," he groaned, but forced himself to look over to NIjimura.
"You know he's already taking after you," Takao chuckled at Nijimura, who snorted in reply.
"Nijimura-senpai?" Kise peered at him.
"Yo." Nijimura lifted a hand in a half-wave.
"You're awake?"
"Yep."
Kise exhaled, loud and relieved, flopping back down on the edge of the bed. "Thank goodness."
Nijimura's face broke into a smile, ruffling Kise's hair. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Fine," Kise drawled, sniffling. "Warm." He remembered that it rained before they could eat lunch, and that it stopped long enough for them to reach the hospital, only to find Nijimura-senpai still asleep. The rain poured again before they could go back out, and Kise was drained from both the karate session and the cold that only got worse after they were caught in the rain.
"Fever-warm, or just warm?" Kasamatsu asked, ready to put his hand over Kise's forehead.
Kise shook his head, moving it away from his captain's palm. "The nice kind of warm?"
"Oh that's good, we were scared the cold would get to you," Kagami said, bright eyes sincere.
Kise didn't remember when he fell asleep, but he did remember feeling like he was going to pass out if he didn't slow down and take a breather. He had slumped his head down his forearms over the edge of NIjimura's bed, feeling calmed by Nijimura's even breathing. He remembered Kagami dumping a towel over his head, telling him to dry off, but not having the energy to do it, so someone else grumbled at him, calling him "Stupid-Ryouta", and toweled off his hair for him, doing it so gently that Kise immediately started falling asleep. He had curled up tightly against the chill, relaxing under soft pressure wiping at his damp head, almost soothing his throbbing headache down as his eyes fluttered shut. The person drying his head off, almost massaging it, grunted at him, slowing down the way he ran the towel through Kise's hair to help him doze off. After a few moments, the weight on his head lifted, and before the cold assaulted Kise's body, he felt a jacket being laid on his shoulders, blanketing his back and keeping him warm. He had already given up on staying awake then, and exhaled comfortably, feeling another layer of warmth being draped over his shoulder before he was completely asleep.
He felt even warmer now, noticing how there were three jackets piled on top of him. A warmth bloomed in his chest, and he felt both embarrassed and touched.
"Thanks," he muttered, peering at Kagami from under his lashes. Kagami grinned in reply.
Kise heaved himself to sit up with his arms, immediately feeling a bout of dizziness hit him. He swallowed it down, ignoring it, then smiled. He found that he didn't have to force the smile at all, seeing NIjimura awake and active with everyone else around him, and even that surprised him. When Kasamatsu gave his hair another fluff, he chuckled, trying to push his hair back down and finding it easy to ignore the throbbing in his head or how tricky it was to breathe with his nose all clogged. He tugged the jackets off his back and put them on his lap, tossing one to Kagami, who caught it with one hand.
"I could lend this to you for the day," Kagami said. "You need it more."
"Nah it's alright, thank you," Kise shook his head. Kagami raised an eyebrow, looking like he was about to insist, but shrugged it off, knowing not to be stubborn towards an equally stubborn person.
Kise simply folded the other two jackets and recognized one as Kasamatsu's. He turned around to find his captain blinking down at him, still wary of his condition. "Thanks for this," Kise told him, handing him the jacket. Kasamatsu gave a small nod, accepting it.
Kise looked at the last jacket he held—the second one that was put over his shoulders—and raised an eyebrow. "Who owns this jacket?" he asked to no one in particular.
"That? That's Haizaki's," Kagami answered from over his shoulder, busy with something over at the other side of the room.
Kise's eyebrows climbed up in surprise. He turned his head, just then noticing that someone was dozing off to his side. Haizaki was there, balancing his cheek on his palm, seated on a chair which he managed to tip over to rock on just two of its four legs. Kise didn't quite know how to react and what to do with the jacket that was loaned to him, and found himself smiling the same smile Nijimura wore as they both regarded Haizaki's drooling face, messed up but peaceful—a stark contrast to his usual scowl and close knit eyebrows.
"He's really out for the count, Haizaki," Kasamatsu said.
"Yeah, he sleeps like a rock," Nijimura mused. He looked at Kise. "You guys went to the dojo today, huh?"
Kise stiffened, then returned Nijimura's gaze. His eyes flickered to the colorful armband that NIjimura was holding, and he grinned, sheepish. "Y-yeah, figured I could help out. Though Shougo-kun really beat me up for it."
Nijimura raised an eyebrow. "Haizaki did?"
"Yeah, I ran into him in the dojo," Kise nodded. "He knows karate, apparently. We had the same idea."
Nijimura glanced at Haizaki, still sleeping like an idiot. He felt incredulous over the things that Haizaki had been up to the past few days, but more than anything, he was moved. Grateful.
"So he still practices…" Nijimura muttered.
"Huh?" Kise cocked his head to one side.
"Nothing," Nijimura shook his head, feeling warm.
"Shuu, you should eat," Himuro chimed in, pulling the bedside table towards Nijimura as Akashi, who had rearranged his and Murasakibara's couch out of the way, reached down to the panel of controls for NIjimura's bed.
"I'll be inclining you up a little, NIjimura-san," he said, looking at Nijimura for permission.
"Ah, alright," he replied, relaxing himself on the bed as Akashi adjusted the top half of it to rise up. Nijimura winced when he felt a pang of pain throb at his side, but quickly doused the expression to keep Akashi from getting concerned.
As Himuro and Akashi focused on Nijimura, Kagami and Kiyoshi helped distribute the lunch for the former-Teiko members who had dozed off there. After a short debate, NIjimura insisted that they could eat on his bed if it was convenient—especially Kise—and after a bit of bickering and rearranging, they all somehow turned the hospital room into what looked like a weird breakfast-in-bed-and-picnic. No amount of poking could wake Haizaki up, and despite the temptation to smack him awake, they had all silently decided to at least give him the rest he needed, given what he's surprisingly done during Nijimura's confinement.
Needless to say, it was a messy lunch, the level of chaotic already significantly dulled down by the presence of the various team captains in the room. Experience and insight played an important role in pacifying Aomine and Kagami's appetites when Himuro, Hyuga and Imayoshi all pushed an extra meal or two at them, Himuro having the largest load when providing for both Kagami and Murasakibara's stomachs, the latter of which blissfully grateful for his co-ace being his friend. Takao had tried to sneak a bite from Midorima's food, which backfired on him when the food collided with his face, causing Midorima to scold him, but not without a hint of a smirk playing at his lips. He ended up feeding a bite to each of his teammates present—an event which they all agreed to have been a milestone in their friendship with Midorima. Beside him, Kise was plowing through his meal with so much fervor that he almost choked, and Kasamatsu had the face of a man who was entirely too used to such events without ever intending to have been as he smacked Kise's back to help him breathe.
At one point, Hyuga, Kagami, Aomine, Akashi, and Nijimura all tried to push more food at Kuroko, chastising him for his tiny meal, and no sooner was Kuroko waving his hands at them in defense, full and bloated and out for the count, with only Kagami and Akashi on his side when they defended him from more food. It was a rowdy lunch taken after lunch time, and it was the lightest Nijimura—and most of them—had felt for a while, for the moment forgetting where they were and why they were there. It was like a strange reunion involving a hospital bed and varying degrees of basketball genius and athleticism all rolled into a group of colorful characters and friends. It was far from where they were all used to being, but it somehow felt like home.
"Ugh, I never thought laughing could get so painful," Nijimura groaned, leaning back on his pillow after he'd finished eating and laughing at his former-teammates and their current teammates around him. He had laid a hand over the side where his new wound was throbbing, the rainbow-patterned armband wrapped snugly around his forearm. The others around him were cleaning up, having insisted that Nijimura just lay back and let them take proper care of him, not letting the bedridden patient debate against them. Nijimura sighed, knowing that there was no use arguing with any of them once they had decided on something, since he himself was that kind of person.
"At least the doctor won't scold you for laughing," Kise chuckled, looking at Nijimura from his perch on his forearms, also having been forced to just stay where he was and rest.
"He's gonna scold you for getting a cold," Kasamatsu poked his forehead. Kise pouted. "Better not get worse enough to get hospitalized too, idiot-Kise."
"Roger," Kise assured, grinning lightheartedly. "Ah, what are you doing Nijimura-senpai?"
Nijimura grunted, pushing himself to sit up, feeling his side protest. "Toilet," he said simply, pushing down the pain and giving Kise a lopsided grin. "'Scuse me."
Kise scrambled to the side without thinking, giving room for Nijimura to scoot out of the bed. Himuro wheeled Nijimura's IV drip to circle around the bed, and the others passed it around until it reached the other side, careful in keeping it from getting tugged from Nijimura's hand.
Nijimura exhaled shakily, ignoring how even small movements struck pain at his side, and how his chest still hadn't cleared completely of his first sickness. He noticed someone move in front of him as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sighing from the effort.
"Are you okay?" Midorima asked, standing tentatively in front of him.
"Yeah," Nijimura sighed. "Help me up?"
Midorima blinked, and a beat passed before he reached down and helped Nijimura stand, feeling the weight of his former-captain shaking from weariness and pain. He glanced at Nijimura, who gave him a knowing look and a smirk, silently telling Midorima I'm okay, there's no need to worry the others, to which he nodded, earning him a grateful smile from Nijimura.
When they'd taken a few steps away from the bed, Nijimura nudged his arm away from Midorima, putting a hand on the latter's shoulder. "Thanks," he said, nodding, then ignored the others' concerned looks as he trudged to the bathroom, lightly tugging along his IV drip, going straight for the sink and washing his face. He braced his palms against the edge of the sink, breathing deep as he tried to smother the pain he felt on his side and still lingering in his chest. Before his mind started to wander to the things he has to do and the days he's missed and how Kise had a cold and how his siblings were doing—he splashed water on his face again, shaking his head free of thoughts that wouldn't do anything to help him get out of the hospital sooner. Instead he thought about how much he owed to the brats waiting on him in the room, and how much they've grown, despite everything. He made mental notes on how to thank them later, and focused on the armband he wore, feeling his mind and body calm just from that. After a while, he finished in the bathroom and left feeling refreshed, finding it easier to keep his attention away from the pain at his side upon seeing the bumbling dorks around the room squabbling like they used to.
Nijimura walked back towards his bed, waving off other people's offers to assist him, and then spotted Haizaki by the bedside, still asleep, rocking unsteadily on the weird position he got his chair into. Something seemed to stir Haizaki into movement, his eyebrows furrowing deeper as he shifted against his palm, eyes wrenching open just slightly as he slowly woke up, moving just so and tipping his chair a little further back.
All of Nijimura's reflexes flared back to life when he saw Haizaki's eyes snap open just as his chair rocked too far, falling backwards, too sudden for Haizaki to have reacted fast enough to grab onto something or regain balance. With one stride, Nijimura was next to the falling idiot, arm shooting out behind the chair and catching it before it fell, his knee following to add support to the lower half of the seat. He let out an exasperated sigh when he was sure that he had caught Haizaki, who in turn looked like a deer on headlights with surprise and the sudden and stressful awakening.
"Holy shit," Haizaki breathed, stiff and unmoving.
"Idiot," Nijimura barked, pushing Haizaki and the chair to stand flat on the ground, then landing a solid chop to the top of Haizaki's head, sending him doubling over in pain.
"Ugh," Haizaki groaned, holding the top of his head.
"What just happened," Kagami said, looking just like the others: surprised and confused and frozen in place.
"Haizaki woke up," Nijimura answered simply, feeling the small rush of adrenaline give him the energy to feel annoyed at Haizaki.
"He almost fell over, then suddenly Nijimura-san was there," Takao added, looking impressed. "That was fast."
"I feel like I have an idiot-radar or something," Nijimura sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I respond too quickly to the abundance of that around me."
Takao cracked up, laughing as Miyaji and Imayoshi agreed with him, the three of them sharing the same look of ones truly martyred.
Haizaki grunted, feeling the relief of seeing NIjimura up and about overpower the pain on his head and the less than favorable manner in which he woke up. He was really, honestly relieved, it completely rid him of a heavy weight that had settled in his chest—a weight that only got heavier when he last saw Nijimura unconscious on his bed being wheeled off to the operating room. "Sorry," he grumbled, getting a snort from Nijimura in reply.
"That was surprising," Kise sighed, relieved, then turned to look at Nijimura. "But hey—Nijimura-senpai how's your—aahh!"
Kise's sudden outburst shocked everyone solid, all of them snapping their attention to the blonde.
"What is it?" Kasamatsu snapped, feeling like his heart had leapt at Kise's exclamation.
"Nijimura-senpai—your side!"
Nijimura looked at him questioningly, then looked down at his side, which he'd just then realized was hurting a lot.
He almost smacked a hand over his face, completely done with himself.
"You're bleeding!"
[tbc]
A/N: Thank you always for the favs and reviews! They are always appreciated c: