Second Chances || Saiouma

Chapter 19

"Are you awake?" A finger prodded at Shuichi's shoulder gently, rousing him from his sleep

Shuichi groaned softly turning his head away from the voice.

"Psst, hey." Soft air blew into his ear, he raised a sleepy hand to bat it away. "Are you up?" The finger on his shoulder moved up to poke at his cheek insistently.

He peeled a reluctant eye open; Kokichi was staring at him impatiently, half of the comforter wrapped around both him and the unbothered cat in his lap. Shuichi stayed put for a moment debating if he should just roll back over and get more sleep. Guess this isn't a terrible way to wake up, so he might as well.

"I wasn't, but I guess I am now." Shuichi closed his eyes, his body tensing up in a stretch before reopening them. "What time is it?"

"It's still early," Kokichi answered, picking up Mischief from his lap and setting her on Shuichi's chest. Mischief seemed uninterested in laying on him, instead, hopping off the bed and prancing over to her scratching post.

"Then why are you waking me up?"

Kokichi smirked falling over onto his side, pulling the rest of the comforter with him. "I couldn't sleep, had a bad dream."

Shuichi sat up, his smile turning worried. "Really? You haven't had one in so long, I thought they were getting better."

"No, it wasn't like that," he stated simply, his lips still upturned. "This time it was just a normal bad dream. I think it's because we were at the hospital last night. I fucking hate hospitals."

He didn't have to ask why, he's sure staying in a hospital receiving life-threatening surgeries would make someone afraid to be in one. Shuichi shivered inching the tiniest bit closer to Kokichi for the warmth he had taken with him when he woke up. Luckily Kokichi acknowledged his efforts, tugging on the comforter so it covered them both.

It was times like this everything felt so unreal, here he was, lying on his side, face so close to Kokichi their foreheads almost touched, and it was undoubtedly real. Kokichi smiles contently, to someone else it wouldn't look like much at all, but Shuichi could see the emotion in his eyes, and it brought forth a smile of his own. The tips of Kokichi's bare shoulders were visible through the covers, his hand held tight in a fist, where his head rested on it.

Sometimes he still finds himself uncomfortable with the thoughts he has, -probably because he had repressed them for so long- like how right now he wants to kiss along every inch of Kokichi's pale smooth skin, and smoosh his face together with his hands. But the uncomfortableness is always far outweighed by his actual want to do those things.

Shuichi moved his arm forward, wanting to run it across Kokichi's shoulder, but stopped when he felt a dull ache in his arm. He let out a hiss, his face scrunching up.

"Oh, you're arm. How is it?" Kokichi asked.

"It's fine, I think it's just sore."

"Yeah because you got stabbed with a fucking plate," Kokichi deadpanned, pushing Shuichi back down when he tried to sit up. "I mean seriously, do you know how hard she threw it? When she said she gave up everything, she must have meant being on a baseball team."

Shuichi chuckled, using his other hand to play with Kokichi's hair. "Yeah." He felt awkward now that Kokichi had brought up his mom, but it was something they both would have to get past. Last night they had stayed on the couch talking about what happened and... doing other things. But he's sure the wound on Kokichi's heart was still as fresh as the one on his arm. "How are you feeling?"

"The same as last night. Frustrated, angry, mainly just disappointed." Kokichi laughed sadly before replacing it with a teasing tone. "Look at me talking about my feelings! Wow, Shuichi you must have really made me fall for you."