It was the next morning around nine o'clock, Tetsurō's eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked around the room and became aware of his surroundings. The television was low but he could still faintly hear it. The heart monitor to his side was beeping to a consistent rhythm. The hospital gown felt itchy on his body. There was a slight metallic taste on his tongue. He yawned and stretched his body feeling all his muscles relax. The tension rose up and left his body slowly. He turned his head towards the nightstand and from the corner of his eye saw the nurse.
"Good morning Mr. Kuroo, you seem well-rested. I take it you read my letter." She was organizing her medical tools.
"Good morning ma'am, yes I did. And I am ready to see him. Can we go now?" Tetsurō slowly lifted himself.
"We can go as soon as you eat breakfast and I check your vitals." She walked over to the room telephone. "What would you like to eat?"
"A bowl of steamed rice with hard-boiled eggs on the side, and an orange juice please."
She dialed the number to the cafeteria. "Hello, can I please get a bowl of steamed rice with a side of hard-boiled eggs and orange juice up to room 304 and add a cup of fruit as well. Please and thank you."
She hung up and dialed a different number. "Good morning please send a wheelchair up to room 304 as soon as possible." She noticed Tetsurō looked over to her as she said that. "Mr. Kuroo, you fell down 52 floors. I don't know what miracle let you run across the hospital the other day or how you're not completely paralyzed but I don't want you to further injure yourself so you will be using a wheelchair."
"Like you said I ran across the hospital. I doubt I need the wheelchair. It's extra and unnecessary, tell them not to bring it."
"It's not up for debate, now lie down, or I will lift the bed, you're going to strain your body."
"Fine, I'll lay down. You are extremely pushy, do you know that?" Tetsurō relaxed his body. "Do you have any news on Kenma? Has he woken up yet?"
"He is doing fine." There was an uncomfortable pause. "Unfortunately he hasn't woken up."
"Right. Well, as long as he's breathing there's a chance."
"Right on time." The nurse ignored his comments and grabbed the tray from the food service worker. "Thank you,"
She walked over to Tetsurō, setting the tray to the side while she set the bed table. She raised the bed so Tetsurō was sitting up. "Eat all of this and then we can go visit Mr. Kozume,"
As the words left her mouth, he rapidly began eating, taking big bites of his food. Spilling most of the rice on his robes. With his mouth full he began to speak. "This food tastes awful, you need to hire new cooks. Like immediately."
The nurse let out a giggle. "Mr. Kozume is lucky to have someone like you in his life. The way you're eating that food makes it seem delicious. I wouldn't have guessed you'd be eating like that to see someone."
"Well, Kenma is special, besides he's like this because of me. I want to be there to apologize as soon as he opens his eyes." He took a final bite of his food before letting out a big sigh. "Look I'm done, we can go now." Tetsurō, impatient as always, tried getting off his bed.
"Calm down, Mr. Kozume isn't going anywhere. We still need to wait for the wheelchair and check your vitals." She put on gloves and unpackaged her tools. She began by taking his pain rating. "Answer honestly now, what is your pain rating from 0 to 10 with 0 being no pain at all to 10 being the worst pain you've ever experienced."
"I would say, around 4, I am in pain, but it is bearable."
"Right, is there any place specifically where you feel that pain? And could you please describe it to me?"
"Not really, it's all around like I'm sore."
"Right, okay." She documented everything he said on her report page.
They took about 40 minutes checking all of his vitals and doing some extra precautionary exams on Tetsurō. When they were done he looked tired, the nurse could tell he was trying to hide it.
"We've done a lot, do you want to rest? We can visit your friend later in the day if you'd like." Nurse Hirawa suggested, though she already knew his answer.
"No, I'm perfectly fine, now let's go!" Tetsurō had a cheesy smile on his face, but a look of hurt in his eyes.
Ignoring her better judgment she helped Tetsurō out of bed and into the wheelchair which had been brought up halfway while she was checking his vitals. He was walking on sheer willpower. His body was not supposed to be able to move at all; it was a miracle.
They traveled in silence as they made their way to Kenma's hospital room. Nurse Hirawa was sure he had to be nervous to see Kenma but she didn't try to comfort him because she remembered being told, "In certain situations, words of comfort will do more damage than good."
This was one of those situations…
So she continued to silently push his wheelchair until they were outside Kenma's room. The door was open but the curtain in the room was shut.
"Are you ready Mr. Kuroo?"
He stayed silent for a moment. The thoughts in his head flooded in. He wanted to go there but could he bear to see Kenma in this state? His head was filled with doubt and he could feel the worry rush through his veins. His heart rate rapidly spiked. I have to do this.
"Yes, I'm ready." With those words, the nurse pushed his wheelchair slowly into the room right before the curtain. Tetsurō quickly opened it himself.
He felt his heart drop at the sight in front of him. Kenma looked… different. It pained Tetsurō to see him like this. Tubes were coming out everywhere, his face looked swollen and his beautiful black hair was a mess. Kenma's body looked neglected.
A single hot tear streamed down his face falling onto his hands. He was silent, not sure how to react. He just kept observing Kenma from the foot of the hospital bed.
"I'll give you a moment alone. If you need anything I'll be outside the room, just call out for me. Take all the time you need." Nurse Hirawa rubbed Tetsurō's shoulder softly before walking out of the room.
The door closed behind him leaving only Kenma and him now. A quiet sob escaped his mouth. He rolled himself over closer to Kenma before reaching for his hand. It felt cold… too cold. Tetsurō caressed his hand for a while, refusing to look up.
"I'm so sorry Kenma. I'm sorry for being the reason you're like this. But please wake up soon so I can make it up to you. We can read all night and eat all the Lava Cakes your body can fit. I'll take a break from college to spend as much time with you as you want. I'll do anything your little heart desires, but please just wake up soon…" His voice cracked and he began crying, feeling a lump form in his throat he tried forcing himself to finish. "I can't go on too much longer without you. I never even got to tell you that I like you too." He placed a gentle loving kiss on Kenma's hand. "So please Kenma do this one thing for me."
Tetsurō lifted his head and looked at Kenma. With his unoccupied hand, he moved a couple of strands of Kenma's hair out of his face behind his ear. So to properly caress his face. Tetsurō said nothing else for the remainder of his time there. He simply would caress him, and place kisses on his hand and face trying to make him comfortable. Patiently waiting, hoping he would wake up while he was there.
Two hours passed but Kenma had not woken up. Tetsurō tried not to worry much about this because his heart monitor was still beeping steadily in the background, so he could still wake up.
Nurse Hirawa came into the room a couple of minutes later. "How are we doing Mr. Kuroo? Has he woken up at all?"
"No, but he must just be really tired, even when he's not injured he could sleep all day so I'm not too worried." He plastered a smile on his face trying his best to seem strong. "But I have a question for you. Is there somewhere I could buy a hairbrush? Kenma's hair looks quite messy and knotted. I want his hair to look amazing when he wakes up."
The nurse giggled. "You never fail to amaze me. Of course, I'll have one brought up to your room later today. Anything else you might need?"
"Yes, is there any way Kenma and I could share a room?"
"Unfortunately no, because Mr. Kozume is at such a high risk we cannot afford for him to get a disease that you may be unknowingly carrying." Tetsurō's face dropped. "But, I could see if I could move your rooms closer together so we won't have to travel so far every day. If that's what you'd like of course."
"Yes! Please if you could do that! I would be eternally grateful."
"Of course, now we've been here for quite some time, what do you say we go back so you can freshen up and rest. We can visit Mr. Kozume at the same time tomorrow."
"Okay, give me a minute and I'll make my way out the room here soon."
"Sounds good, I'll be waiting outside."
Tetsurō turned his attention to Kenma once more. His grip around his hand got tighter. "I'll be back tomorrow, and every day after that until you wake up. Okay, so stay here and please wake up. I love you, Kenma Kozume. Every day I will repeat those words to you until you can say them back. And that is a promise." He lifted Kenma's hand to his lips and placed one last kiss. Before letting go and turning his wheelchair away to leave. He didn't look back because he knew if he did he wouldn't want to leave.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘ ༓ ∘∙⊱⋅•⋅