Rainbow Veins

Chapter 9

That evening, Koutarou kept thinking a lot.

He really liked that Keiji boy. He was nice, polite and had a beautiful smile. And he was really cute. Really, really cute.

But somehow, Koutarou couldn't get the thought out of his mind that something was wrong. He found it strange that Keiji was being so isolated. Nobody on this ward had a room for themselves except him. And the behavior of his mother made him suspicious too. As if he wasn't even worth her time. Shouldn't she be glad that someone was there to keep her son company?

Koutarou kept sighing the whole evening and not even Tetsurou's efforts of showing him that new game Kenma had borrowed him managed to cheer him up.

Maybe it was better if he didn't visit Keiji again. He really thought so after that day.

That was at least until two days later, the emergency alarm went off on the ward. Koutarou knew it meant someone's heart stopped beating and they had to reanimate them. And when he sat there on his bed and watched the nurses and doctors on the hallway passing by in chaos, he just couldn't bear the thought that it could be Keiji. It didn't take him much self-convincement to finally get up and check up on the other boy.

He almost wrenched open the door and called out Keijis name loudly, at which the other one just lowered his book and blinked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"What is it, Bokuto-san?" he asked calmly. "Do you need a hiding place again?"

"I'm fine" Koutarou muttered embarrassedly.

Tch.
Why did he ever bother to worry about him...

"What brings you here? I haven't seen you around yesterday, so I was afraid you got moved to another ward."

He sounded nonchalantly, but Koutarou couldn't help but feel a little bit bad for not visiting him the day before. He sighed as Keiji gestured him to sit down on the edge of his bed, like he did the days before and Koutarou gave in without much more convincement needed. There was no way he could decline an offer coming from that precious boy.

"Yeah, about that, sorry... guess I wasn't quite in the mood to visit you."

He scratched the back of his neck while sitting down crossed legged onto the mattress.

"You don't have to apologize. If it had something to do with my mother, then I am the one who has to say sorry." Now it was Keiji's turn to sigh. "She's a very busy woman you know."

"It's fine. I just didn't want to be in the way, so I left." The other one hummed and finally the daring tone from the emergency coming from the hallway had died down. "Someone's heart just stopped beating and I was afraid it was yours. So I came here to check."

At this, Keiji's eyes widened and he turned his gaze away promptly. Koutarou watched as he awkwardly played with the hem of his sleeves, obviously looking for words.

"Thank you for being concerned about me" he finally murmured with a shy look on his face.

Watching him closely, the silver haired boy gave him a big smile. "Of course I am! We're friends, right?"

"I guess, yeah..." and when Keiji blushed a bit and gave him that precious smile of his, Koutarou decided he wouldn't want to leave this boys side ever again.