[fic] Rehab and Donuts
Title: Rehab and Donuts
Author: fencer_x
Rating: PG-13 :3
Pairing: Tsujimoto Yuuki x Takasaki Shouta
Summary: Tsujimoto goes to visit Shouta in the hospital.
Notes: I started writing this before I knew wtf was wrong with Shouta XD; But thankfully it wasn't difficult at all to rework it to actually be somewhat relevant, so...enjoy! :3
"Are you visiting Takasaki-sama?"
Tsujimoto jumped in his skin, startled out of his thoughts by the nurse's innocent question. He glanced over, working to force a nervous smile to his lips, sweaty palms fogging up the clear plastic wrapping the small bouquet he'd picked up at the station on his way here. They were already wilting in the heat that had draped itself over Tokyo, and the walk from the station to the hospital had done wonders for neither Tsujimoto (or Tsujimoto's hair, more importantly) nor the flowers. He wasn't even entirely sure why he'd bought them in the first place; it's just, that's what you did when you visited someone in the hospital, right? No matter that Shouta wasn't so much recovering from a delicate operation or risky treatment so much as laid up in one of the hospital's sterile beds recovering from what sounded like something you only saw in medical dramas but was really, "Not that big a deal, honestly!" and had hit at just the wrong time. Still, a hospital visit merited a floral arrangement, and that's all there was to it.
Tsujimoto managed a hesitant nod and a nervous laugh to go with his smile, lifting his brows hopefully. "I'm...not disturbing him, am I? I'm not family or anything..."
The nurse waved him off, crumbling under his amicable demeanor, one he'd perfected over the years. It wasn't a facade, really, but it certainly portrayed him as a much more upstanding young man than the likes of Shouta or Baba knew him as. "No, no--not at all. He's just finished his dinner and should be more than happy to have a visitor." She looked him over, as if suddenly remembering her position. "But--visiting hours are over at 9 PM sharp, and please try not to rile him up too much. This is a hospital."
"Absolutely--thank you, ma'am." He gave a short bow to complete the act, and she flushed lightly before puttering away. He watched her go, amused; she was old enough to be his grandmother, likely, but a "fan" was a fan.
He restored his composure with a soft, "Yosh," in an effort to instill some confidence in himself. Not that he really had to work himself up to come visit a friend, it was just...he didn't really like hospitals; the young and healthy tended not to. Hospitals, to Tsujimoto, symbolized a world of confines and cloisters, secreting away the sick and dying from the rest of the world, and it was most definitely not a world he wanted to associate with anyone close to himself in any way, no matter how insignificant the reason.
He had caught himself thinking, just a matter of weeks ago, how far Shouta had come in two years. How it felt like this still wet-behind-the-ears acting newbie in a matter of mere months had shot up from being a nobody in the acting world to being one of the main characters in the most successful anime-based musical venture yet to starring in his second, third performance and tackling subject matter Tsujimoto himself had only just started dabbling in these past few years. It was mind-boggling, if he wanted to be honest, and if it had been anyone but his very best friend, he might have even been a little jealous--and a lot petulant--at the attention Shouta was garnering.
So maybe it was because of their friendship, or maybe it was because of some subconscious nervous tick where he just didn't see it coming, but...he'd come to expect so much from Shouta, had come to view him as an actor neck and neck with himself in the business, a rival with all the inherencies contained therein: someone to challenge and beat, but also someone to help push him forward and be a better actor himself. He'd expected all this from Shouta as business as usual, and maybe that's why this had all happened in the first place.
Maybe if he'd taken Shouta aside at some point and urged him to pace himself, not to take on too many projects at once--if he'd reminded his friend that you don't have to say 'yes' to every part you land and that there's only so much line memorization that Shouta's poor head can handle--even if it meant Shouta would've shoved him off the bench at yakiniku with Baba and made him treat the both of them to dessert.
Maybe if he'd done that, he wouldn't be holding a thousand-yen bouquet of wilting carnations that Shouta was bound to roll his eyes at and then make Tsujimoto put them in water and place them by his bed so that everyone who came in would ask, "Oh, who brought you flowers, Takasaki-kun?" and Shouta would give some cheeky answer like, "The best doubles partner ever~" or "My girlfriend~" Which made Tsujimoto smile, admittedly. The guy was cute and he knew it, which was perhaps the most dangerous combination.
He knocked twice, rapping lightly on the faux wood door before pressing down on the handle with his weight to push into the room. Shouta's ward was newer, only recently added onto the main building in the past few years, and lacked the traditional sliding doors that allowed passage in and out. Truthfully, the other way made Tsujimoto feel less like this was a hospital and more like it was just a strange room in a house. With its modern doors and cold metal handles, the "hospital"-ness of it all was inescapable.
"Come in~" came Shouta's distracted sing-song, followed by the distinct computerized musical medley that accompanied a Pokemon battle. Of course--his parents had likely brought the guy all manner of books and games to keep his attention occupied while he recovered; however one was supposed to recover from all your nerves going on the fritz and shutting down your muscle coordination. He couldn't even remember what the heck Shouta had said he had, just that it hadn't sounded familiar and that made it all the more worrisome.
"Yo!" he greeted nervously, waving the flowers in greeting, and Shouta immediately snapped his DS shut, tossing it off towards the foot of the bed and sitting up straighter, grin widening.
"Tsuji-kun! You came!"
"I did!" he returned simply, tossing the bouquet into Shouta's waiting hands. "Sorry it took so long..."
"Mmm," was the ambiguous response as Shouta busied himself investigating the altogether uninteresting flowers. "You're here now, right?"
Tsujimoto glanced down at himself in mock concern, patting his chest as if ascertaining that he was in fact corporeal and there. "Yup, pretty sure."
Shouta just rolled his eyes at his friend's familiar act, setting the bouquet down by his abandoned gameboy, albeit more gently. "I thought you had rehearsals all this week?"
"Director let me cut out an hour early when I explained I had to go visit a very dear friend in the hospital." Shouta just raised an eyebrow, like he knew this wouldn't fly with any director worth his salt. "...And I may have been roped into bringing the cast sashiire tomorrow to make up for the inconvenience." He added as a muttered, petulant afterthought, "Even though it wasn't like I was in any of the final scenes being rehearsed..."
"Aww, Tsuji-kun loves me enough to pick up donuts for the rest of his freeloading castmates~"
Tsujimoto pursed his lips to keep from smiling at the jab, reaching forward to shove Shouta's shoulder--but was easily blocked by Shouta's raised arms, and he froze in immediate concern when his gaze fell on the long clear tube hanging along the other side of the hospital bed, attached to a clear liquid bag hanging from a metal hook near the head of the bed.
Shouta's smile fell when he realized Tsujimoto was distracted, and he followed his friend's gaze down to his IV tube, quickly pulling his hand to his chest and covering the small catheter taped in place. "Hey--no, it's no big deal. Tsuji-kun." He waved his free hand for attention, and Tsujimoto quickly recovered his senses.
"I--sorry. I must've spaced out for a second..." His forced smile was fooling no one.
"Seriously--it's just a drip. I have to get these daily injections in the morning, so they just decided to stick this in me rather than having to keep poking me every day. That's all--it's just a temporary thing, and really it's--"
"--No big deal, right no, no I get it. Sure." He nodded firmly. "It's just...weird, kind of. Sorry." Shouta glanced away, picking at a leaf that had fallen from the bouquet into his lap. "You're getting out of here soon, though, right?"
Shouta shrugged. "I'm supposed to have some consultation or something with my doctor on Wednesday. Depending on how they think my treatment's going, they said I might be out of here by the end of the month--" He brightened up here, brows lifting hopefully. "--which means I can still probably make the event with you and Baba-chan and Ebo!"
Rather than offering the supporting excitement Shouta had likely been expecting, though, Tsujimoto just lifted a brow, skeptical. "Seriously? That's a good idea?"
"How did I know you'd say that?"
Tsujimoto rolled his eyes, snatching up the leaf Shouta was preoccupied with. "All I'm saying is it'd be much better to just...err on the side of caution. Even if you get released at the end of the month, there's a lot to prep for with the event--"
"But you'd help me out, right?"
"Well--of course I would," he returned, exasperated at Shouta's seemingly cavalier attitude. "Just--what about your rehabilitation? Didn't you say you were going to have to have something like three sessions a week?"
"Not on the weekends, duh."
"And talk events are tiring! There's four now!"
Shouta quirked a brow. "Seriously? They added another?" His tone betrayed his excitement that they were still that popular.
"You're going to be tired--"
"No, I'm going to be bored out of my skull if I'm stuck in bed all alone--whether it's here or at home--while you get to hang out with Baba-chan and Ebo and Ikkou and have tons of fun while I have to occupy myself with reruns of old Crayon Shin-chan episodes or infomercials, because that's all that they seem to show on the stations here!" The unabashed indignance at this moved Tsujimoto to smile, lips quirking up at their corners, but he wasn't ready to relent yet, opening his mouth to protest again--but Shouta just flopped backward onto his stack of pillows, legs flapping out long in front of him, and he let out a loud, annoyed sigh. "God they really had you down when you got cast as Seigaku's mother hen..."
"I'm not a mother hen--" Tsujimoto protested; and he wasn't, normally. But...Shouta was special. And this was a hospital. This wasn't a cold or even the flu, or a sprained ankle or even just exhaustion. This was serious and merited an IV and Shouta wasn't really being considerate of how worried he'd been. How much he'd had to work up the nerve to even try calling Shouta again to see if it was okay to come visit, how he couldn't even pee straight anymore because like a lovesick idiot he'd decorated the walls around his toilet with all the fan art he'd received during his time in TeniMyu, which by and large was not so much Oishi art as Oishi&Eiji art and every time he looked at it all he could think was, "I wonder how he's doing..."
"No..." Shouta allowed after a moment, letting his head fall back against the pillows. "...You're not, I'm sorry. I'm being difficult."
He was. But Tsujimoto knew he was supposed to disagree here, and then they were supposed to talk about something only tangentially related, like how Tsujimoto looked with blond hair or how Shouta was considering getting something drastic done to his own when he finally got out of the hospital. Instead, though, he just shuffled closer to the head of the bed and awkwardly leaned forward as far as he could, wrapping his arms around Shouta's shoulders to pull him into a hug which Shouta, while thoroughly confused at the gesture, passively accepted, bringing his own arms up after a moment to pat his friend's back. "You are being difficult," he grumbled into the thin hospital gown.
"I'm an invalid. I'm supposed to be difficult, and you're supposed to take care of me."
Tsujimoto laughed into the crook of his neck, pulling back and resting his forehead on Shouta's shoulder while he reached down to hold Shouta's free hand. "You're gonna milk this for all it's worth, huh?"
"I'll require extensive rehabilitation, you know."
"Hmm."
"Someone will probably have to hand-feed me, dress me, bring me my meals and anything else I might need from another room."
"Really, now." He felt Shouta nod, and pulled back with a goofy grin before they both crumbled into giggling fits. "I never should've come, then. Now you'll be calling me for every little thing you need."
"Well it won't be so bad--it's only for a couple of months or so, you know. Just until I get back on my feet--literally."
Tsujimoto bit his lip, brows quirking as a thought crossed his mind. "I suppose...there are some things I could certainly help out with while you get your strength back."
Not catching the husky quality to his friend's voice or the not-so-subtle tug at Tsujimoto's lips, Shouta was at first curious, glancing up from the thread he'd been picking at with his free hand. Tsujimoto squeezed his fingers, though, impressing upon him his intentions, and Shouta's expression paled as the blood left his face, following Tsujimoto's wandering fingers. "Wha--Tsuji-kun!" He immediately pulled his knees back to his chest, pushing Tsujimoto's hand away roughly, but without any real indignation. "Geez, you can't--this is a hospital." The blood had made its way back to his face now and was flooding his cheeks. He glanced at the closed door just around the corner. "Visiting hours are almost over anyways--"
"--So I'd better be quick?"
Shouta locked eyes with him, trying to impress upon his friend that this was far from appropriate. "No. You should--go buy your donuts. That's what you should do."
"The head nurse likes me."
"So? I'm not letting you--do that." Except in the very instant that he'd understood Tsujimoto's intentions, his body had already started him on a course towards very much letting Tsuji-kun do "that". Stupid body. Stupid hormones. Stupid being in a hospital with stupid visiting hours and nurses who checked in once an hour. "I'm serious, it's not--"
"Shouta."
"What?" he snapped, exasperated. He wasn't going to be talked into what he knew was not a good idea.
"...You...you can still...right?"
"...I can still wha--oh. I--" He frowned, then shoved Tsujimoto's shoulder. "Idiot. I just lost some muscle coordination; I'm not paralyzed."
"Ow--it was a legitimate question!" But he was laughing; like he hadn't spent every free moment he'd had in the past two weeks practically memorizing everything Wikipedia had to offer on Miller-Fisher syndrome. His laughter died down slowly, and he glanced over his shoulder at the door to Shouta's room; he had a point, it was almost time for visiting hours to be over. "It'd suck if you couldn't do that anymore."
Shouta just rolled his eyes keeping his legs pulled up tight, in case Tsujimoto picked up on the tiny little devil Shouta standing on his shoulder reminding him that hospital doors have locks, you know. "Well--no worries there, then." Tsujimoto just nodded, appeased, and Shouta relaxed, feeling a little guilty for what had probably been some overreacting; Tsuji-kun wasn't stupid, after all. But he also didn't always think with the right head; neither of them were spectacular at that, granted. "So you'll...come visit again, right?"
"Sure," he assured, smiling softly.
Shouta laced his fingers together innocently, twiddling his thumbs. "Well, if you felt like...letting me know when you were coming next time, I might be able to make sure my family weren't around. You know." He flicked his gaze up, not betraying anything, and clamped down on the urge to bury his face in his pillow.
Tsujimoto leaned in quickly again, reaching forward to angle Shouta's face towards him, and breathed in sharply when their lips brushed, enjoying the bit of suction that came from their joining. Shouta must've had some of the hospital's fruity gelatin for dessert, for he was treated to a strong, sugary aftertaste when their tongues brushed. "You're gonna love Tsujimoto Yuuki-sensei's rehabilitation regimen."
"Mmm," Shouta laughed against his lips as he pulled back. "It better involve donuts."
Author: fencer_x
Rating: PG-13 :3
Pairing: Tsujimoto Yuuki x Takasaki Shouta
Summary: Tsujimoto goes to visit Shouta in the hospital.
Notes: I started writing this before I knew wtf was wrong with Shouta XD; But thankfully it wasn't difficult at all to rework it to actually be somewhat relevant, so...enjoy! :3
"Are you visiting Takasaki-sama?"
Tsujimoto jumped in his skin, startled out of his thoughts by the nurse's innocent question. He glanced over, working to force a nervous smile to his lips, sweaty palms fogging up the clear plastic wrapping the small bouquet he'd picked up at the station on his way here. They were already wilting in the heat that had draped itself over Tokyo, and the walk from the station to the hospital had done wonders for neither Tsujimoto (or Tsujimoto's hair, more importantly) nor the flowers. He wasn't even entirely sure why he'd bought them in the first place; it's just, that's what you did when you visited someone in the hospital, right? No matter that Shouta wasn't so much recovering from a delicate operation or risky treatment so much as laid up in one of the hospital's sterile beds recovering from what sounded like something you only saw in medical dramas but was really, "Not that big a deal, honestly!" and had hit at just the wrong time. Still, a hospital visit merited a floral arrangement, and that's all there was to it.
Tsujimoto managed a hesitant nod and a nervous laugh to go with his smile, lifting his brows hopefully. "I'm...not disturbing him, am I? I'm not family or anything..."
The nurse waved him off, crumbling under his amicable demeanor, one he'd perfected over the years. It wasn't a facade, really, but it certainly portrayed him as a much more upstanding young man than the likes of Shouta or Baba knew him as. "No, no--not at all. He's just finished his dinner and should be more than happy to have a visitor." She looked him over, as if suddenly remembering her position. "But--visiting hours are over at 9 PM sharp, and please try not to rile him up too much. This is a hospital."
"Absolutely--thank you, ma'am." He gave a short bow to complete the act, and she flushed lightly before puttering away. He watched her go, amused; she was old enough to be his grandmother, likely, but a "fan" was a fan.
He restored his composure with a soft, "Yosh," in an effort to instill some confidence in himself. Not that he really had to work himself up to come visit a friend, it was just...he didn't really like hospitals; the young and healthy tended not to. Hospitals, to Tsujimoto, symbolized a world of confines and cloisters, secreting away the sick and dying from the rest of the world, and it was most definitely not a world he wanted to associate with anyone close to himself in any way, no matter how insignificant the reason.
He had caught himself thinking, just a matter of weeks ago, how far Shouta had come in two years. How it felt like this still wet-behind-the-ears acting newbie in a matter of mere months had shot up from being a nobody in the acting world to being one of the main characters in the most successful anime-based musical venture yet to starring in his second, third performance and tackling subject matter Tsujimoto himself had only just started dabbling in these past few years. It was mind-boggling, if he wanted to be honest, and if it had been anyone but his very best friend, he might have even been a little jealous--and a lot petulant--at the attention Shouta was garnering.
So maybe it was because of their friendship, or maybe it was because of some subconscious nervous tick where he just didn't see it coming, but...he'd come to expect so much from Shouta, had come to view him as an actor neck and neck with himself in the business, a rival with all the inherencies contained therein: someone to challenge and beat, but also someone to help push him forward and be a better actor himself. He'd expected all this from Shouta as business as usual, and maybe that's why this had all happened in the first place.
Maybe if he'd taken Shouta aside at some point and urged him to pace himself, not to take on too many projects at once--if he'd reminded his friend that you don't have to say 'yes' to every part you land and that there's only so much line memorization that Shouta's poor head can handle--even if it meant Shouta would've shoved him off the bench at yakiniku with Baba and made him treat the both of them to dessert.
Maybe if he'd done that, he wouldn't be holding a thousand-yen bouquet of wilting carnations that Shouta was bound to roll his eyes at and then make Tsujimoto put them in water and place them by his bed so that everyone who came in would ask, "Oh, who brought you flowers, Takasaki-kun?" and Shouta would give some cheeky answer like, "The best doubles partner ever~" or "My girlfriend~" Which made Tsujimoto smile, admittedly. The guy was cute and he knew it, which was perhaps the most dangerous combination.
He knocked twice, rapping lightly on the faux wood door before pressing down on the handle with his weight to push into the room. Shouta's ward was newer, only recently added onto the main building in the past few years, and lacked the traditional sliding doors that allowed passage in and out. Truthfully, the other way made Tsujimoto feel less like this was a hospital and more like it was just a strange room in a house. With its modern doors and cold metal handles, the "hospital"-ness of it all was inescapable.
"Come in~" came Shouta's distracted sing-song, followed by the distinct computerized musical medley that accompanied a Pokemon battle. Of course--his parents had likely brought the guy all manner of books and games to keep his attention occupied while he recovered; however one was supposed to recover from all your nerves going on the fritz and shutting down your muscle coordination. He couldn't even remember what the heck Shouta had said he had, just that it hadn't sounded familiar and that made it all the more worrisome.
"Yo!" he greeted nervously, waving the flowers in greeting, and Shouta immediately snapped his DS shut, tossing it off towards the foot of the bed and sitting up straighter, grin widening.
"Tsuji-kun! You came!"
"I did!" he returned simply, tossing the bouquet into Shouta's waiting hands. "Sorry it took so long..."
"Mmm," was the ambiguous response as Shouta busied himself investigating the altogether uninteresting flowers. "You're here now, right?"
Tsujimoto glanced down at himself in mock concern, patting his chest as if ascertaining that he was in fact corporeal and there. "Yup, pretty sure."
Shouta just rolled his eyes at his friend's familiar act, setting the bouquet down by his abandoned gameboy, albeit more gently. "I thought you had rehearsals all this week?"
"Director let me cut out an hour early when I explained I had to go visit a very dear friend in the hospital." Shouta just raised an eyebrow, like he knew this wouldn't fly with any director worth his salt. "...And I may have been roped into bringing the cast sashiire tomorrow to make up for the inconvenience." He added as a muttered, petulant afterthought, "Even though it wasn't like I was in any of the final scenes being rehearsed..."
"Aww, Tsuji-kun loves me enough to pick up donuts for the rest of his freeloading castmates~"
Tsujimoto pursed his lips to keep from smiling at the jab, reaching forward to shove Shouta's shoulder--but was easily blocked by Shouta's raised arms, and he froze in immediate concern when his gaze fell on the long clear tube hanging along the other side of the hospital bed, attached to a clear liquid bag hanging from a metal hook near the head of the bed.
Shouta's smile fell when he realized Tsujimoto was distracted, and he followed his friend's gaze down to his IV tube, quickly pulling his hand to his chest and covering the small catheter taped in place. "Hey--no, it's no big deal. Tsuji-kun." He waved his free hand for attention, and Tsujimoto quickly recovered his senses.
"I--sorry. I must've spaced out for a second..." His forced smile was fooling no one.
"Seriously--it's just a drip. I have to get these daily injections in the morning, so they just decided to stick this in me rather than having to keep poking me every day. That's all--it's just a temporary thing, and really it's--"
"--No big deal, right no, no I get it. Sure." He nodded firmly. "It's just...weird, kind of. Sorry." Shouta glanced away, picking at a leaf that had fallen from the bouquet into his lap. "You're getting out of here soon, though, right?"
Shouta shrugged. "I'm supposed to have some consultation or something with my doctor on Wednesday. Depending on how they think my treatment's going, they said I might be out of here by the end of the month--" He brightened up here, brows lifting hopefully. "--which means I can still probably make the event with you and Baba-chan and Ebo!"
Rather than offering the supporting excitement Shouta had likely been expecting, though, Tsujimoto just lifted a brow, skeptical. "Seriously? That's a good idea?"
"How did I know you'd say that?"
Tsujimoto rolled his eyes, snatching up the leaf Shouta was preoccupied with. "All I'm saying is it'd be much better to just...err on the side of caution. Even if you get released at the end of the month, there's a lot to prep for with the event--"
"But you'd help me out, right?"
"Well--of course I would," he returned, exasperated at Shouta's seemingly cavalier attitude. "Just--what about your rehabilitation? Didn't you say you were going to have to have something like three sessions a week?"
"Not on the weekends, duh."
"And talk events are tiring! There's four now!"
Shouta quirked a brow. "Seriously? They added another?" His tone betrayed his excitement that they were still that popular.
"You're going to be tired--"
"No, I'm going to be bored out of my skull if I'm stuck in bed all alone--whether it's here or at home--while you get to hang out with Baba-chan and Ebo and Ikkou and have tons of fun while I have to occupy myself with reruns of old Crayon Shin-chan episodes or infomercials, because that's all that they seem to show on the stations here!" The unabashed indignance at this moved Tsujimoto to smile, lips quirking up at their corners, but he wasn't ready to relent yet, opening his mouth to protest again--but Shouta just flopped backward onto his stack of pillows, legs flapping out long in front of him, and he let out a loud, annoyed sigh. "God they really had you down when you got cast as Seigaku's mother hen..."
"I'm not a mother hen--" Tsujimoto protested; and he wasn't, normally. But...Shouta was special. And this was a hospital. This wasn't a cold or even the flu, or a sprained ankle or even just exhaustion. This was serious and merited an IV and Shouta wasn't really being considerate of how worried he'd been. How much he'd had to work up the nerve to even try calling Shouta again to see if it was okay to come visit, how he couldn't even pee straight anymore because like a lovesick idiot he'd decorated the walls around his toilet with all the fan art he'd received during his time in TeniMyu, which by and large was not so much Oishi art as Oishi&Eiji art and every time he looked at it all he could think was, "I wonder how he's doing..."
"No..." Shouta allowed after a moment, letting his head fall back against the pillows. "...You're not, I'm sorry. I'm being difficult."
He was. But Tsujimoto knew he was supposed to disagree here, and then they were supposed to talk about something only tangentially related, like how Tsujimoto looked with blond hair or how Shouta was considering getting something drastic done to his own when he finally got out of the hospital. Instead, though, he just shuffled closer to the head of the bed and awkwardly leaned forward as far as he could, wrapping his arms around Shouta's shoulders to pull him into a hug which Shouta, while thoroughly confused at the gesture, passively accepted, bringing his own arms up after a moment to pat his friend's back. "You are being difficult," he grumbled into the thin hospital gown.
"I'm an invalid. I'm supposed to be difficult, and you're supposed to take care of me."
Tsujimoto laughed into the crook of his neck, pulling back and resting his forehead on Shouta's shoulder while he reached down to hold Shouta's free hand. "You're gonna milk this for all it's worth, huh?"
"I'll require extensive rehabilitation, you know."
"Hmm."
"Someone will probably have to hand-feed me, dress me, bring me my meals and anything else I might need from another room."
"Really, now." He felt Shouta nod, and pulled back with a goofy grin before they both crumbled into giggling fits. "I never should've come, then. Now you'll be calling me for every little thing you need."
"Well it won't be so bad--it's only for a couple of months or so, you know. Just until I get back on my feet--literally."
Tsujimoto bit his lip, brows quirking as a thought crossed his mind. "I suppose...there are some things I could certainly help out with while you get your strength back."
Not catching the husky quality to his friend's voice or the not-so-subtle tug at Tsujimoto's lips, Shouta was at first curious, glancing up from the thread he'd been picking at with his free hand. Tsujimoto squeezed his fingers, though, impressing upon him his intentions, and Shouta's expression paled as the blood left his face, following Tsujimoto's wandering fingers. "Wha--Tsuji-kun!" He immediately pulled his knees back to his chest, pushing Tsujimoto's hand away roughly, but without any real indignation. "Geez, you can't--this is a hospital." The blood had made its way back to his face now and was flooding his cheeks. He glanced at the closed door just around the corner. "Visiting hours are almost over anyways--"
"--So I'd better be quick?"
Shouta locked eyes with him, trying to impress upon his friend that this was far from appropriate. "No. You should--go buy your donuts. That's what you should do."
"The head nurse likes me."
"So? I'm not letting you--do that." Except in the very instant that he'd understood Tsujimoto's intentions, his body had already started him on a course towards very much letting Tsuji-kun do "that". Stupid body. Stupid hormones. Stupid being in a hospital with stupid visiting hours and nurses who checked in once an hour. "I'm serious, it's not--"
"Shouta."
"What?" he snapped, exasperated. He wasn't going to be talked into what he knew was not a good idea.
"...You...you can still...right?"
"...I can still wha--oh. I--" He frowned, then shoved Tsujimoto's shoulder. "Idiot. I just lost some muscle coordination; I'm not paralyzed."
"Ow--it was a legitimate question!" But he was laughing; like he hadn't spent every free moment he'd had in the past two weeks practically memorizing everything Wikipedia had to offer on Miller-Fisher syndrome. His laughter died down slowly, and he glanced over his shoulder at the door to Shouta's room; he had a point, it was almost time for visiting hours to be over. "It'd suck if you couldn't do that anymore."
Shouta just rolled his eyes keeping his legs pulled up tight, in case Tsujimoto picked up on the tiny little devil Shouta standing on his shoulder reminding him that hospital doors have locks, you know. "Well--no worries there, then." Tsujimoto just nodded, appeased, and Shouta relaxed, feeling a little guilty for what had probably been some overreacting; Tsuji-kun wasn't stupid, after all. But he also didn't always think with the right head; neither of them were spectacular at that, granted. "So you'll...come visit again, right?"
"Sure," he assured, smiling softly.
Shouta laced his fingers together innocently, twiddling his thumbs. "Well, if you felt like...letting me know when you were coming next time, I might be able to make sure my family weren't around. You know." He flicked his gaze up, not betraying anything, and clamped down on the urge to bury his face in his pillow.
Tsujimoto leaned in quickly again, reaching forward to angle Shouta's face towards him, and breathed in sharply when their lips brushed, enjoying the bit of suction that came from their joining. Shouta must've had some of the hospital's fruity gelatin for dessert, for he was treated to a strong, sugary aftertaste when their tongues brushed. "You're gonna love Tsujimoto Yuuki-sensei's rehabilitation regimen."
"Mmm," Shouta laughed against his lips as he pulled back. "It better involve donuts."