Love and Lies [Saioumami]

We Aren't Leaving You Again

Kokichi groaned, feeling like he slept on clouds, slowly gaining consciousness along with the sensation of pain and stiffness over his entire body. "He'll be okay, he just needs a lot of rest and care right now." Ignoring the pain of the bright room as he opened his eyes, Kokichi noticed Rantaro talking to Sumomo, Shuichi chewing his thumb beside them. He noticed Shuichi's eyes light up with hope as they met with the purplette's.

"Kokichi! Oh my God, you're awake!" Shuichi shouted, running over to the boy and kissing him deeply, hugging him as tight as he could.

"Ow! Careful!" Kokichi hissed, the pain overwhelming from the contact.

"I'm so sorry, how are you? Are you alright?" Shuichi worried, looking over Kokichi's body at his wounds that the purplette noticed were wrapped in old bandages. 

"I'd be better if this room wasn't so bright," Kokichi groaned, hearing his joints crack as he rested his hands on his face, feeling a square of fabric over his left eye. Rantaro laughed and closed the midnight blue curtains, letting Kokichi adjust to the world. Shifting his legs over the edge of the bed, Kokichi shouted in pain as he sat up, his vision blurring as dizziness took control of his entire body.

"Lie down Ouma, you need rest," Momo hurried to the boy's side, helping him lie back down on the soft bed.

"Can someone get me a bottle of vodka to numb the pain? Emotionally and physically," Kokichi joked, smiling at the chuckles in the room.

"You can't drink alcohol right now, I've put you on some painkillers you can take but you'll need food beforehand. I recommend taking them every morning with breakfast," Momo explained. "To be honest, you're lucky not to have any broken or fractured bones judging by these injuries. This is going to need a few days of rest minimum before you can walk around, your injuries are pretty bad even if they're only cuts and bruises. Do you mind me doing a quick checkup?"

"Please, I feel like I'm dead right now," Kokichi sighed.

"Alright, let me take off your eyepatch, if the light is too intense please tell me," Momo requested, pulling a small light out of her pocket as she peeled away the eyepatch. Blinking rapidly at the sudden vision change, Kokichi noticed the blood on the inside of the white cloth. "Great, it's healing," Momo smiled, shining the small light in and out of Kokichi's eyes.

"Am I dead?"

Momo laughed, "no you aren't dead. Can you grab this for me?" Turning off the light and holding it in front of her. Kokichi rolled his eyes and grabbed it, noticing Momo smile. "Alright, you're perfectly fine! I'll leave now so you three can have some privacy, call me if you need anything." She left the room after substituting a clean eyepatch for Kokichi's wound, gently closing the door behind her.

"Alright, uh, where am I?" Kokichi asked. He lay on a black, comfortable bed with grey and baby blue walls, dark brown furniture filling up the large bedroom.

"My house, you're in one of the guest rooms right now. Actually, it's yours now, so I guess it's not a guest room," Rantaro laughed, sitting beside Kokichi on the bed. Hearing a sniffle, Kokichi turned to see Shuichi wiping his eyes, sitting on the edge of the double bed.

"Kokichi, I'm so sorry, I didn't do anything to help you, I should've been there," Shuichi mumbled through his stuttering and crying. "I should've stopped them when your parents grabbed you from graduation like that."

"Hey, it's alright, you weren't to know. Shu~Shu, don't blame anyone but my parents for this." In an attempt to comfort his boyfriend, Kokichi raised his bandaged hand to caress Shuichi's cheek. "Speaking of which, why were you and your dad at my house in the first place Rantaro?"

"When your parents grabbed you like that, I knew something was off. I didn't want to get directly involved and risk making things worse for you, so I grabbed Dad to help me check on you. I'm sorry for not helping you at graduation," Rantaro stared at his hands. Both men had tears streaking their cheeks, attempting to hide their weeping.

"Oh come on you two, stop crying, I'm alive, aren't I?!" Kokichi laughed, forcing his body off the bed despite his limbs screaming in agony. "Don't tell me I've been lying in my own blood for ages. How long have I been out?"

"Well, you've been unconscious for a few hours. We know how insecure you are about your body, so Momo only cleaned what wounds she could see on your face and arms. If you want to shower, we or Momo can help. Also, you have spare clothes you can change into that are in the bathroom. Oh, and everything in there is yours now."

"I'll be alright on my own. If I don't come out in an hour, assume I'm dead!" Kokichi shouted, ignoring his screaming body as he stumbled into the en suite. Ignoring the returning dizzy aura, Kokichi locked the bathroom door behind him and grimaced at the reflection in the mirror. His hair stuck together in bloody clumps, a large bruise forming over the uncovered eye. His white uniform was soaked with crusted, brown blood, his body looking even more horrible than he'd ever remembered.

Sighing, Kokichi turned on the water, peeling off his clothes and wrapping the rigid, disgusting bandages. All this blood from a few hours? Jesus Christ, how am I not dead? He noticed a pile of neatly folded clothes and rolls of bandages on the counter, a note placed on top. These are for you Kokichi, I hope you feel better soon! -Momo. She's so sweet, thank you Momo. Stepping into the warm shower, Kokichi sighed as the water rained on his body, the feeling easing his pain slightly, although increasing the stinging sensation as the crusted blood washed away. This seems familiar, I'm back to washing off my blood in Rantaro's shower again.

Washing as much blood from his body as he could, Kokichi stepped out of the shower, drying off his body carefully before rewrapping all of his bandages. Putting on the short sleeve shirt and pyjama bottoms, Kokichi went to replace his eye patch before hesitating, staring at himself in the mirror. Leaning closer, he noticed a deep cut spreading seven centimetres over his face, spreading from just above his eyebrow through to the middle of his cheek. It looks like there's no injury to my actual eye, thank God, it's still really deep though...

Replacing the eye patch, Kokichi gathered his bloody, ripped clothes and threw them into the laundry hamper, leaving the bathroom. Feeling like he walked through a wall, the purplette gasped, unable to see or feel anything. "Kokichi! Are you alright?" Shuichi worried, rushing forward to catch the male as he fell. 

"Yeah, I don't know what happened..." Kokichi groaned, holding his head.

"Come on, you need to rest," Rantaro and Shuichi helped the male lie down, walking him over to the bed and tucking him underneath the sheets. Feeling refreshed and clean after his shower, Kokichi closed his eyes, curling up on his side as he struggled to keep his eyelids open.

"Why am I so tired? I've been sleeping for hours," Kokichi yawned. 

"I think Momo said something about your body not resting when you're unconscious like that. I'm not sure if that's right now, I might have heard her wrong," Rantaro mumbled, climbing into bed with Shuichi beside him. "Go to sleep, you'll be alright."

"We'll be right here the entire night, no one is going to hurt you," Shuichi smiled, stroking Kokichi's damp hair as he fell asleep grinning.