Work Text:
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to
Fix You
It was decidedly the longest night of Bokuto Koutarou’s life. All of the events occurred in under four hours but for Koutarou, it felt like four lifetimes. Sometime in those ungodly long hours, he had called his best friend. He doesn’t remember what they talked about, he just knows that right now he was sitting on the couch in his living room crying into his friend’s chest. His parents were still at the hospital finishing paperwork and the likes.
“Bokuto-san.” The words filtered into Koutarou’s conscience. He took in a shaky breath and looked up into sea green eyes. In the two years that Koutarou knew him, Akaashi Keiji had become an anchor for the bright man. A piece of stability that grew with him. Due to this, they knew everything about each other that they possibly could.
“Bokuto-san.” Keiji said again. His voice was gentle and calming. Koutarou made out a cracked noise of assent in response.
“It’s nearly five in the morning. Even if you are not going to school, you need to try to sleep.” Keiji said. He began stroking Koutarou’s hair, which had begun falling down after running about. Keiji knew that physical touch was one of the best things for Koutarou when he was deeply upset.
Koutarou has stopped hiccuping air to try to fill his lungs, but the tears still fell down his face. The sun was already beginning to rise. However, the curtains were drawn so the only indication was the soft light falling into the sitting room from the kitchen doorway.
“Hungry.” Was the only thing Koutarou said shifting away from Keiji. He brought up a sleeved arm to wipe his tears away.
“What would you like to eat?” Keiji asked moving Koutarou’s hair out of his eyes.
“Onigiri.” Koutarou mumbled. His voice was cracking from overusing it the past hour.
“Okay, I’ll go prepare it.” Keiji said starting to untangle himself from Koutarou. As he went to stand up, Koutarou’s hand flew out and grabbed Keiji’s arm.
“Don’t leave me.” Koutarou practically yelled. Tears welled up in his eyes again.
“Bokuto-san, I’m not going to leave you. I’m only going to the kitchen. You may join me if you’d like.” Keiji said gently. Koutarou nodded and shuffled behind Keiji into the kitchen.
Keiji began moving around the kitchen as Koutarou sat on one of the stools in front of the counter. He was wrapped in a purple blanket with small white flowers on it. He lay his head on his crossed arms he put on the counter. Tears still found a way down his cheeks. By the time Keiji had finished preparing the food, Koutarou was breathing deeply. He was finally able to rest. Keiji put the already made food in a container and put it in the microwave to try and keep it warm. He was debating whether he was going to try and move Koutarou to the couch when his cellphone went off. He jumped and silenced the offending object by answering it.
“Hello?” Keiji asked. He thought it might have been his mother, but the voice that followed was not female.
“Keiji? Where are you? Bokuto’s not here either.” A familiar voice said.
“Morning practice.” Keiji said, realization hitting him like a sack of bricks.
“Yeah, did you forget?” Konoha asked.
“Yes. Last night was particularly rough for Bokuto-san. I came over to help him but neither of us has slept. Do you mind running practice, Konoha? Just do receiving drills and serving.” Keiji stated. After getting scolded and an agreement from Konoha, Keiji was starting to say goodbye when a panicked yell came from the kitchen.
“Aggaaaasheee?!” Koutarou yelled, “Where are you? Please! Come back!” Keiji said a goodbye then hung up the phone without hearing a response.
“Bokuto-san. I’m right here. I was taking a call. I promised that I wouldn’t leave you.” Keiji said walking back towards the kitchen. Koutarou ran out, tripping over his toga, into the hallway where Keiji had been. Koutarou launched himself at Keiji and clung for dear life, even as they fell to the ground. Koutarou had began crying harder than before. Keiji sat up with Koutarou and pulled him closer.
“Bokuto-san, are you still hungry?” Keiji asked. Koutarou shook his head. “Okay, then let’s get you to your room. I will stay with you, okay?”
Keiji managed to get them both on their feet even though Koutarou wasn’t letting go at all. They walked down the hallway but Koutarou stopped in front of a door that didn’t lead to Koutarou’s room. It looked exactly like the blanket that made up Koutarou’s Grecian attire, except the purple was lighter.
“Bokuto-san. Let’s go to your room.” Keiji said gently. Koutarou just stood staring at the door.
“She died behind that door, Akaashi.” Koutarou said quietly, his voice breaking. Instead of standing there crying, he grabbed the door handle and twisted it open. The door swung open revealing a feminine room. The walls were of the same color as the door with white and pink flowers splattered over them. The bed was a white frame and had white sheets but was missing the blanket which was wrapped around Koutarou. There was a white desk in the corner furthest from the door. Even though the room’s walls and furniture were beautiful and elegant, there was a glaring mistake which caught the attention of Koutarou and Keiji. On the snow white carpet lay a dark red puddle that had spread earlier and began sinking into the foundation. It’s not surprising that the mistake was not cleaned up but rather ignored and hidden behind a closed door. The offending spot was definitely considered a mistake. Koutarou’s own sister had decided to take a blade to her wrist, a fatal mistake. The incident occurred late in the night before.
Koutarou was roused awake and went down the hall to use the restroom. On the way back, he noticed the lamp on in his sister’s room. The door was not closed but cracked open so Koutarou pushed the door open further.
“Nee-san, why are you still awake? You have class tomorrow morning.” Koutarou said as the door swung open, showing 20 year old Bokuto Miko lying unconscious in a puddle of her own blood. As it registered in Koutarou’s mind, he ran over to his sister yelling for his parents. They arrived in the doorway to see Koutarou starting CPR. His father called 119 and his mother pushed away the blade and the empty bottle of Sake. The paramedics arrived and Koutarou was pushed into the longest four hours of his life. Miko was put into surgery to try and get her heartbeat back and pump blood into her. After a couple hours of fruitless attempts, the doctor came out and pronounced her dead. Koutarou’s parents told him to go home while they dealt with legal matters. Upon arriving at his house, he saw Keiji sitting on the porch steps. Koutarou’s adrenaline came down and he began sobbing into Keiji while the younger boy led them inside.
As the memories faded into the background, Koutarou released his hold on Keiji and walked into the room.
“Should we clean it so it doesn’t get worse?” Koutarou asked in a soft voice. Keiji followed him into the room.
“You need to sleep, Bokuto-san.” Was Keiji’s only response. Koutarou ignored Keiji’s demand.
“How do we clean blood out?” Koutarou asked. Keiji sighed knowing that Koutarou wouldn’t rest until the task was finished.
“Hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice. Then we’ll bleach it to make it white again.” Keiji said. They got to work cleaning up the mistake. Only after it was snow-like as the rest of the floor did Koutarou allow himself to be led out of the room into his own. He collapsed in his bed and let Keiji pull the blankets up over him. After shifting so he could sleep, Koutarou patted the spot next to him.
“Can you lay with me?” He asked. His voice was distant and it occurred to Keiji that this could be the beginning of the numbing pain. Keiji nodded and laid down on the bed. Soon Koutarou was snoring lightly and Keiji began petting his head. The next few months would be putting pieces of Koutarou back together, but Keiji was more than happy to be the one to do it.
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to
Fix You