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“This is entirely unnecessary,” Kaoru complains. “I can walk the few steps to your bed on my own.”
“You broke your ankle, among other things,” Kojiro levels. “It’s better if I carry you.”
With Kaoru held carefully in his arms so as not to disrupt the many casts and surgical wraps covering his body, Kojiro carries him through his apartment and into the bedroom with the AI wheelchair following behind. He tries to keep his cool, but seeing his best friend wounded like this makes Kojiro feel a world of hurt, too.
“Carla,” Kaoru tells the electric wheelchair once they’ve reached the bedroom. “You can go into Sleep Mode over there.”
“OK, Master,” Carla’s AI system replies as it wheels into the corner of the room next to Kojiro’s cooking competition trophies. “Sleep Mode activated.”
Kojiro decides now is not the time to criticize Kaoru’s obsession with AI technology, so he maneuvers around to the bed and starts lowering Kaoru down.
Like a cat, Kaoru digs the fingers of his non-broken arm into Kojiro’s shoulder, right where the muscle is sore from yesterday’s workout, and latches on for dear life.
“Oi!”
“Don’t even think about laying me down on these sheets!” Kaoru barks out. “I can only imagine what and who you’ve been doing on them.”
Kojiro laughs dryly, pride somewhat wounded by his lecherous reputation. “I changed them this morning, just for you,” he says.
Kaoru harrumphs and loosens his grip. “Fine. Put me down.”
Very slowly, Kojiro lays him onto the sheets, resting his back on the propped up pillows and making sure his cast-encased ankle is in an upright position on the pillow he placed at the base of the bed for extra comfort.
“…You didn’t have to do all of this,” Kaoru says quietly.
In Kojiro’s mind, he absolutely did. “You think I’d let you suffer all alone? A weak four-eyes like you would never be able to take care of yourself in a state like this.”
“You - !” Kaoru leans forward as he usually does when they start bickering, but winces in what is clearly pain, though he tries to hide it.
Kojiro gently grabs hold of his shoulders and lowers him back down to the pillows. “Easy now. Don’t make the wounds worse.” He pulls the comforter up to his chest, careful not to get in the way of his arm in a sling. “Now let’s change some of these bandages.”
“They’re just minor scrapes,” Kaoru grumbles.
“Adam clocked you in the face with a skateboard,” Kojiro points out. Saying it brings back fresh memories of witnessing on the big screen the atrocity of what Adam did to Kaoru in their tournament race. “It left more than a scrape.”
Kaoru bristles at the sound of Adam's name and looks down, away from Kojiro.
“…I thought a beef with him would be different.”
Kaoru looks hurt – not just physically, but emotionally – as he says it. Kojiro doesn’t like seeing the pain on his face or hearing the ache in his voice at all.
“Let’s not think about him right now,” he suggests. And he means it, because if Kojiro thinks more about Adam than he already has today, he’ll fly into a vicious rage. He was ready to throw hands with their ex-friend. He was ready to use his well-toned muscles for more than just a race, even if it meant getting kicked out of S. But seeking medical attention for Kaoru was his top priority right then.
Right now, he needs to be gentle for this task, so he shelves those angry thoughts and grabs the bag full of medical supplies he bought earlier in the day.
“I watched some video tutorials on how to change bandages,” he states. “The doctor said to leave the head and neck bandages alone for twenty-four hours, but we can change the one on your cheek. First step: washing hands so nothing gets infected.”
Kojiro pads over to the adjacent bathroom and scrubs his hands clean.
“I’ll confess, you’re quite good at this caretaker routine,” Kaoru says from the neighboring room.
“Naturally.” Kojiro dries his hands with a towel while he reminisces about their youth. “Don’t forget that I was the one who used to bandage you up any time you took a spill back when we first started skateboarding.”
“I haven’t forgotten…” Kaoru mutters.
Kojiro fills a cup with soap and water and brings it over to the bed, where he gets into a seated position on his knees next to Kaoru and gently uses a hand to tilt his chin up.
“Hold still. Taking this off might hurt since the skin around it is still tender.” That’s the kind of consequence of a human getting whacked in the face at full-force with a skateboard wielded by the devil himself, he wants to add, but decides to hold his tongue for once.
Kaoru keeps his head forward as was requested of him, but watches Kojiro work out of the corner of his eye. He screws his eyes shut without making a sound when Kojiro removes the tape from the bandage on his cheek.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he responds through gritted teeth.
Kojiro removes the bandage completely, and seeing the injury underneath it makes him want to seriously punch Adam square in the jaw. He again shelves that thought and dips a piece of gauze in the cup of soapy water.
“I’m gonna clean this, okay?”
“You don’t have to give me a play-by-play. I know you’re not going to hurt me.”
Ouch. Yet again, putting thoughts of taking down Adam aside, Kojiro dabs the gauze over the wound to clean it. Once completed, he takes a fresh piece of gauze and pats it dry.
“For a muscly idiot, you’re surprisingly gentle when you want to be,” Kaoru comments.
Kojiro laughs off the pseudo-insult. “I need to be gentle, otherwise this wound won’t heal right, and then I’ll have to wait forever before I can race against you in a beef and leave you in a trail of dust.”
Kaoru bestows upon him a steely gaze. “Keep dreaming. I’ll be the victorious one.”
Kojiro is happy his friend’s ego is only bruised and hasn’t been destroyed completely. His eyes are drawn down to his familiar scowl. His lips are so close…
He files that thought away and dips a Q-tip in some ointment, carefully spreading it over the wound. It’s a miracle such a nasty cut didn’t require stitches.
Just as he’s about the place the bandage over it, however, Kaoru opens his mouth to speak.
“…He said my skating was boring.”
Kojiro drops the cloth. “What?”
Hearing that fills him with fury, so from Kaoru’s perspective, it probably hurt worse than getting decked with a skateboard did.
When no elaboration is given, Kojiro continues. “You’re a lot of things, Kaoru. Stuck-up, stubborn, a huge AI nerd. But boring isn’t one of them. My life is exciting because you’re in it.”
Finally, finally, he sees the trace of a genuine smile. “What a backhanded compliment.”
“Keep that smile on your face and don’t move again until I get this bandage on.”
Kojiro tucks a stray lock of hair behind Kaoru’s ear, places the bandage over the wound, and puts surgical tape across it. He’s never really touched Kaoru’s cheek before. He has bandaged his arms and legs a number of times after various skateboarding tumbles, but this scenario feels different somehow. Maybe it’s because of the severity of the injury. Maybe it’s because the skin on his face seems more delicate. Maybe it’s because this wound wasn’t caused by an accident.
Maybe it’s because he loves Kaoru with all his heart.
His friend is strong and can withstand a lot, but letting anyone see him in a vulnerable state like this is uncommon. Kojiro won’t take his trust for granted.
With the tape securely in place, he removes his hands. “There. Good as new.”
“Thanks.” Kaoru settles into the pillows and sighs. “I’m loath to admit it, but whoever you pick to be your wife is lucky. She’ll be in good hands when she needs someone to care for her.”
That’s high praise coming from Kaoru, but it doesn’t bring Kojiro any joy. It sets a lump in his stomach instead. I don’t want a wife, he thinks to himself. I’ve only ever wanted you. But he can’t say that aloud, at least not now, so he grabs the medical supplies and stows them away until the time comes to change the bandages again.
“Alright,” Kojiro says as he makes his way towards the room’s entrance. “Turning off the lights so you can get some sleep.”
“I’m not tired.”
Kojiro huffs a laugh. “Maybe ‘cause you passed out on my restaurant table for an hour.”
“You could’ve woken me up!” Kaoru retorts, but then his angry expression turns into one of contemplation. “That reminds me. I vaguely remember you saying something as I fell asleep at the restaurant, but I can’t recall it. What were you prattling on about?”
Kojiro feels his face heat up and turns off the lights to hide his expression. He’s not ready to repeat what he said out loud in the restaurant.
“I’m sure it was nothing you’d think was important.” He walks back to the other side of the bed and gets under the covers next to Kaoru. “Get some sleep. If something’s wrong during the night, just wake me up. I’ll go to your place tomorrow to get your belongings, so borrow some of my clothes in the morning.”
Kojiro isn’t convinced Kaoru heard anything he just said this time either. It may be dark in the room, but he can see the outline of Kaoru staring up at the ceiling with undeniable frustration etched into his features.
“I can’t skateboard,” he says quietly. “I can’t do my calligraphy.”
Kojiro’s heart sinks. He knows how upset he himself would be if an injury took away his livelihood and his favorite hobby, even if it was just temporarily.
“You’re more than just skateboarding and calligraphy,” he tells Kaoru. “And you’re not alone in your recovery. I’m here with you. There are plenty of things we can do while you heal. We can make a day trip over to the Churaumi Aquarium and check out the whale sharks, you can hang out at the restaurant and I can cook for you, I can wheel you around the park...”
You’re not alone. He wants to repeat that over and over until Kaoru truly understands he’ll always be here for him.
But Kaoru doesn’t respond. Kojiro lets the suggestions fade away into the night, and he burrows himself into the blankets.
A moment later, his skin prickles as a head comes to rest on his shoulder.
“Kojiro.”
A shiver runs down his spine at the way Kaoru says his name. “Yeah?”
“…I’m glad you’re still by my side.”
He wants to convince Kaoru he’ll never abandon him, he’ll always be there for him when he needs it, there’s no one he’d rather spend the rest of his life with. But now just isn’t the right time. Someday – someday he’ll say the words that have always been locked away in his heart.
For now, though, he’s content with simply being by Kaoru’s side. He tucks his arm under Kaoru’s neck and holds him close. Kaoru leans into the touch and cuddles closer. The sound of the sheets rustling and the feeling of Kaoru’s breath on his neck make his head spin.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Kojiro means every word of it.