My chest aches as I slip from the locker room, unnoticed as always. Shintarou promised to make sure my stuff doesn't get moved, but he'll probably forget. Seijuurou is more likely to keep track of my belongings. I'm half ashamed of relying on these kids, these near-strangers, but it's not something I can help. I'm required to meet someone right now, and it doesn't help that I can't let the others know, even though I want their advice. "I thought I was going to have to drag you out." A voice calls icily as I round the corner of the hallway, searching for the exit. My body stiffens against my will.
"Haizaki." I say frostily. "What do you want with me?" I do my best to keep my face calm and collected, like always, but Haizaki has terrified me since he wouldn't take my "no" for a no. The feel of his hands on my skin still sends shudders down my spine and makes me itch to bathe myself in bleach.
"Quit the basketball team." He says flatly. "You can't play. I won't let you. You and that blond kid- neither of you should play! I'm going to get my spot back!" My pulse is racing.
"I refuse. I want to play." I don't see what's used to push the air from my lungs, but I suddenly can't breathe. The hand around my throat is getting tighter and tighter, and my ankle is bending in ways it shouldn't be. "St--"
"Shhh. Everything will stop in a few minutes." My nails lacerate my throat as I try to pry his hand away. My ankle is nothing but pain, and my knee is threatening to collapse in ways unnatural. My scream is lodged in my throat, unable to escape. The sudden flair of agony from my ankle confirms that it's been broken. "Stop moving, you stupid-"
"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" A voice calls. Daiki? My mind is hazy and I can't see anymore. Warmth trickles down from my neck, and my skin burns where my nails have clawed.
"Hai-chan!" What are they doing here? They'll just get hurt! I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't feel. Everything is starting to slip when the purple-type giant picks up the ashen-haired teen like a doll. I can hear something snipping in the background, and two pairs of hands helping me to my feet, even though I know they won't hold me.
"Haicchi, is this where you went off to-ssu? You should've said something!" If only the blond knew why I was here.
"Ryouta, Shintarou, Tetsuya, take Alex back to the locker room. Daiki, Atsushi, and I will take care of this one." Sei's voice is as frigid and commanding as his personality allows. Two red eyes assess my blank and somewhat stunned expression. I wonder why everything is starting to feel cold. "Ryouta, call an ambulance."
I'm being carried and it hurts and I still can't breathe, but I know enough to realize that Teiko is somehow protecting me, and that this is dangerous for them. I try to cough up a warning, but my throat won't make any noise.
I can't see anything after a while. I just want to doze off and go home and ask my parents what's for dinner. Unfortunately, none of that works out for me. When I next see things, I'm sitting in a hospital bed, wondering where I am and how I got here. The heart monitor goes crazy as I try to escape the clutches of the IV, but needles and blood have never been things I've handled all that well.
"Look at me, Alex." Red eyes. Yes, I see red eyes that won't let everything slip away from me. "You're fine. You're in the hospital. In a few minutes, the nurse is going to come in, probably with the doctor. You need to calm down. Do you understand?" I nod. "If I had known you were going to see that... person, I would not have let you leave. Why didn't you say anything?"
"Couldn't." I croak. "Didn't want teammates to get hurt." Sei's eyes widen comically.
"Explain your reasoning." We're interrupted by the nurse and the doctor that follows him in. I'm allowed to go home, that's good, but I'll only be a burden to Tetsuya's parents. When the nurse and doctor leave, I do my best to explain myself.
"Didn't want you guys to get hurt." It hurts when I speak. "You're my teammates. Teammates are people who have your back. You've helped me a lot."
Seijuurou sighs. "You're loyal to a fault, Alex." He says with a sigh. "How's this. Don't worry about us, do you understand me? I can do that. Do as I say, and I won't let anything like this happen to you again." Sei's eyes look honest and promising. "Do we have a deal?"
I nod my head. "Yes."
My head hurts when I get up, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. It's got nothing to do with how I've slept. I feel heavy and tired, like I'm tied to a ball and chain and haven't slept at all. My body aches in ways that should be illegal, even though I'm not uncomfortable and I haven't done anything strenuous. I don't want to go to school today.
It's then that I realize light is streaming directly into my eyes, a signal that I've overslept. I bolt upright, panic sending my heart into a frenzy. "Daiki, we overslept!" The bluenette peers up at me from tapping away at his phone, lounging on his futon.
"It's Saturday, idiot." I blink in surprise.
"I see." I reply. I then thump back onto my bed, my head throbbing. I try to stifle the light, but the pillow offers limited coverage, and my blanket could suffocate me. I sigh with frustration. "Daiki, do we have any painkillers?" I hear a shuffling noise and then silence.
"No." I groan and curl into myself. "What's wrong?" Pulling the blanket over my head, I do my best to stop offending my muscles.
"Nothing." I reply. It feels like barbs are being placed under my skin, ripping at my muscle and shredding at my skin. My stomach is threatening to relinquish its contents, and my heartbeat pounds in time with my head. I'm starting to break a sweat.
"Alex." Daiki's voice is low and suspicious. I do my best not to shudder.
"Yes?" My voice sounds strange, strangled, smothered, like my vocal cords are beginning to stop working.
"Tell me what's wrong." Doesn't he know I don't take orders? My insides feel like they're quivering, like they're shivering.
"Nothing. I'm just tired and had a little bit of a headache, that's all." I'll indulge Daiki this time, if that's what he wants. The edge of my bed dips a bit, likely from Daiki's weight. I'm tired now. All I want is to sleep this strange sensation away, so it's like it never happened. That's it- all I need to do is sleep, and everything will work itself out. Sleep sounds like a blessing.
"You're not sick, right?" The bluenette asks. I shake my head.
"Of course not. I don't catch things easily." I reply, flipping over so my head is buried in my pillow and the light is kept from my eyes. This sensation isn't entirely new to me. I've had it once or twice before, but this time it's worse. I can't make myself pass out, even as time flies by and the blue wunderkind doesn't move.
"I'll be back in ten minutes. Don't go anywhere." Daiki says after another twenty. I make a muffled groan that I hope shows him I have no intention of going anywhere right now. Within a few more minutes, and after the sound of the apartment door closing, I manage to drift into a hazy half-sleep that leaves me feeling like I'm floating. My body feels heavy, but my head feels light. It's like part of me is going to float away.
I don't know how long that lasts. I don't know how I manage to get to the bathroom in time to throw up. I don't know how I try getting back into bed only to trip over the floor. I don't know how I do it, but I make myself hurt all the worse and all I have for company are creaking wood floors and glaring white walls. My chest contracts as I pull myself together and stumble back toward my bed. My heart is racing. My body hurts and hurts and hurts.
"You idiot!" I hear Daiki's rather outraged voice behind me. Surprised, I practically jump out of my skin before glancing back at him.
"I had to go to the bathroom. I didn't go anywhere. I'm going back to bed." The blue-haired boy groans before he practically shoves me onto the much closer, slightly less comfortable couch.
"Sit. Don't move. Get it?" I give Daiki an unimpressed glare before sinking into the cushions and staring up at the ceiling. "Swallow." He surprises me by presenting me with a circular white pill and a glass of water. I'm half suspicious half grateful, so I thank him and down it without saying anything. The water chases the taste of medicine down my throat. Within a few minutes, my eyes are too heavy to keep open and the sensations under my skin feel like they aren't happening to me.
"Daiki, what did you give me?" My head is getting too heavy to hold up.
"It's supposed to help you sleep, so you can sleep this off." He says, reading off the bottle. "I won't leave or do anything, so relax." It's much easier said than done in my case, but I don't have much of a choice. I drop into a drug-induced slumber.
Waking is not as easy as falling asleep. At first, I don't feel anything. I'm barely aware that any time has actually passed, and my body is a mass of weight that I can't imagine moving. My chest rises and falls, that much I can feel, but I can't help but disassociate it from myself. It doesn't feel real, like I have to breathe at all.
I can just barely hear noises next. The TV is murmuring quietly and Daiki drops swears and a few interesting comments now and then. I can hear a few birds from outside and the creaking of the walkway outside. Daiki laughs at something the television comments on.
I start to feel real after a while. The massive weight is now much more similar to limbs that simply refuse to move. The familiar feeling of laziness and sleep transform more fully into a dull drowsiness. Unfortunately, as sensation returns, so does the rest of me. My body doesn't hurt as much as it did when I went to sleep, but it's only barely tolerable. I'd never be able to play in this condition, and that worries me.
I try to catch Daiki's attention, but my body refuses to move. Can I speak? I make a low humming noise to push past my haziness and manage to turn onto my side. The couch feels soft, and Daiki's lap is a nice pillow. "Hm? You awake yet?" I groan this time. My headache, although dulled, still hurts, and my limbs are painfully stiff. At least the urge to hurl has passed.
"Daiki." I say. At least, I hope it sounds like 'Daiki'. My words are slurred like those of a drunkard's, and it's all Daiki's fault. At least he smells good. The scent of clean laundry and a little sweat and grass and dirt mingles pleasantly, with an underlying darkness. I'm on my stomach before I know it, sprawled all across Daiki's lap in whatever way seems most comfortable. He doesn't really have any complaints other than his usual moaning and groaning, and contents himself with using my back as a tray of sorts. I feel a circular shape, likely a plate, resting at mid-back. It's warm, and feels nice.
"Feel any better?" The words barely register with me, but that's fine. I'm content with simply staying here, feeling warm and loved as long fingers mess around with my hair. I make a noise that I hope sounds similar to something to affirm his statement, but the meaning is likely lost. Even though the bluenette is more than fluent in my groaning sleep-speak, this is on a whole new level.
"Stiff." I groan. "It huuuuurts." Daiki makes a noise of interest, although his attention is likely focused on whatever program he's watching. I shift slightly and content myself with receiving the attention I have. At least I can get myself to speak more clearly. It would be nice, though, if this stiffness remained as numbed as my tongue, and as reluctant as the movement of my limbs.
"Probably a bad idea to take another one." The blue-haired boy says, shifting slightly.
"Are you using me as a table, Daiki?" I ask as my eyes comply in opening. The body below me stiffens before relaxing.
"How angry would you be if I said yes?"
"Not at all, unless you happened to spill something on me." Daiki shifts underneath me slightly. It's like this that the first string finds us. They have plenty of questions, however I can only respond with a single one.
"Since when has it been okay for you four to just barge on in without a single knock!" I exclaim. My brain still feels like it isn't fully functional, but it's okay. I don't really mind all that much. It helps keep the embarrassment down.
"This is getting seriously concerning. First he's eating your face, now he's using you as a table." Wakamatsu's comment sends heat racing to my cheeks.
"You should just shut up." I groan, trying to hide my face into the couch cushions. My pulse is tripping over itself as my embarrassment rises. A person sniggers, one who could only be Imayoshi, since that boy seems to get off on my frequent humiliation in front of the first string players. Murder crosses my mind for a few moments.
"What're you doin' here?" Daiki finally asks. I want to sit up. I want to sit up and scavenge for the remains of my dignity, but my body isn't being the most compliant it's ever been. I resist the urge to roll off the couch and humiliate myself further.
It's dark outside, and I've stopped listening to the boys' conversation. It's a little sad that we can't see the stars from out here. The streetlamps and house lights and headlights from cars all drown the sky is a bath of brightness, leaving the stars to be smothered in their own darkness.
My body finally complies in moving properly. I sit up (Daiki thankfully moved his food off of me), and attempt stretching properly. My arms feel stabs of pain, my legs feel like folding, and my stomach isn't very pleased with me. Dark blue eyes watch me carefully as I stand a little shakily and go to raid the fridge. I haven't eaten all day, and although I'm not hungry, it still seems like a good idea to have something in my stomach. Maybe something spongy, I think. Nothing all that complicated. I don't want to throw up again.
Our fridge, unfortunately, is looking more than a little barren. The only thing remotely spongy is some deep-fried tofu, which I'm not keen on eating, and a piece of cake. Neither of those seem like good ideas, nor do they appear all that fresh. "Bread on counter." Daiki calls from the living room as I close the fridge with disappointment.
I wonder if Daiki knew what I was looking for to begin with, or if he's just guessing. At least the counter is still clean, something that the bluenette struggles with. I can't count how many times he's left dishes or open bottles or leftovers on here, or refused to clean up some of his none-too-frequent spills. It's all good, though. I understand. Cleaning is a hassle, but Mr. Messy has been making better efforts lately.
My thoughts are happy once I find that Daiki's managed to get some really fluffy looking white bread. I have nothing against whole wheat or anything- it's just that I prefer the fluffier, lighter texture of white bread. It's like a cloud in my mouth.
At first I only eat a slice to test the waters, to see if I can keep food down. When that proves successful, I eat more. Three slices are more than enough to keep me from feeling hungry, although I'm starting to feel heavy and overly full. "I'm going to bed." I say, waving a hand to Daiki. "Keep it down."
"Yeah, yeah." The blue-haired wonder replies without looking at me. Hopefully, our teammates will go home soon, and I won't have to listen do them chattering away. Why are they here anyway? Is this their new hangout? I'd rather go to an arcade or a basketball court or a public park or a mall. My apartment isn't large enough to keep this up for a long period of time. Oh, well. It can't really be helped right now. I'll be patient.
The noise from the living room simmers down after ten minutes, when I'm slipping under the covers and drawing the blinds so that the light won't murder my eyes once it's daytime again. Daiki was right when he said that sleeping this off would be helpful. I feel better than I did this morning, and I didn't have to do anything other than sleep. Thoughts of how my homework lies neglected and how I'm much too glad I have this weekend off from work rattle about my brain, making it a little harder to sleep than it should be. I fall asleep as the lights in the living room dim down.