Romance novelist Eiri Yuki sat in the chair next to a hospital bed and sighed as he glanced at his manuscript that was in his hands. He could not understand what it was that he had written. It seemed to be a rushed document, full of spelling mistakes and errors. He had not even gotten to the tenth page and had scoffed at the very idea of the story in front of him going to his editor. She would laugh at this, Eiri thought silently, his gaze turning to the sleeping figure that was occupying the space. The characters seem so fake, as if they are just background. I don’t know how anyone can stomach to read this crap. Then he blinked before taking off his glasses and pocketing them in his black suit. And besides, I haven’t had time to polish it up. I forgot that my deadline for this was tomorrow.

I suppose I’ll have to hold off on that for right now too. I can’t really do much because of how I feel for Shuichi. He’s still trying to pretend and I hate when he’s upset.

Over the last week and a half that Shuichi Shindou was the hospital, Eiri had found that he had needed to protect him from the press that kept trying to storm into his room on the third floor. They seemed to like to try to get in his room at least twice a day and Shuichi was hardly in the right state of mind for anything at the present time. Eiri could hardly get him to say a few words to him, let alone talk about the accident that had taken place.

Shuichi would just wake up and cry for a minute, trying to look for Eiri before taking his hand. He would give that familiar smile, and try to hide the fact that he was in pain. Yet his violet eyes told him the lies and the feelings that Shuichi was living in. He could not stand the fact that every time Shuichi had to be moved from where ever he was, he began whimpering and crying.

It broke Eiri’s heart and he would firmly take the boy in his arms and cradle him until he would pass back onto sleep or calm down. Most of the time it was the former, since the painkillers made him tired and so did his emotional overloads.

He once again turned back to look at the document and had tried to read it again. It was no use. He could not get into the story at all. Eiri felt that it was too dry and fake to even be considered in his mind, and had already rejected any hope of salvaging it. It was the way he was when he came to his writing.

“Mr. Uesugi?”

Eiri snapped his head up to glance at the very familiar nurse that had been a frequent part of their lives for the past week and a half. A brown haired nurse with a cap on her head, he had finally remembered that her name was Arlena.

“Are you kicking me out again?” he asked in an irritated tone.

Arlena laughed. “No no. I have good news this time.”

“Good, because I’m getting sick of getting kicked out as I’m getting work done. It’s tedious to drag something here to work on, and get kicked out as I get into my work.” Yet a smile curled on the corners of his mouth as his gold eyes looked to Shuichi. “So what did you want to tell me?”

“Dr. Tanae has decided that Mr. Shindou will be able to go home tomorrow . . . if you can manage to get him in the car without him going into hysterics,” Arlena told him. “Of course, there should be a trauma nurse there with you in case something happens to Mr. Shindou.”

Eiri glanced up at her, the papers forgotten in his hand. “Are you sure that it’s alright to release him from the hospital now? I mean, I can’t get him to even let Tatsuha and Ryuichi stay in the same room,” he pointed out. “And he’s still—“

“The doctor thinks it would be better if he was home, because then he could get more help there then if he was in the hospital,” Arlena had answered, glancing at Shuichi’s sleeping form. “As for Mr. Sakuma and Mr. Uesugi, that is something that you, as well as those individuals, have to work on. I know it was a mistake . . . everything that happened, I mean . . . but Mr. Shindou will probably need some serious therapy in order to recover from this ordeal.”

At the mention of therapy, Eiri shuddered. He remembered that he had his own therapist to go to tomorrow as well. Damn, tomorrow’s going to be one hell of a day. He made a note to himself to try to reschedule it when he left the hospital that night and to see if maybe she could see Shuichi as well, since he doubted he would want to go anywhere without him around in the first place. “Alright, I’ll see what I can push back. I don’t think Mizuki’s going to like me putting off another deadline, but it can’t be helped. And Dr. Hanren . . . well, she’ll deal.”

“Suddenly you seem so cold, Mr. Uesugi,” Arlena remarked, suppressing a chuckle. “Trying to keep your reputation intact, aren’t you?”

“It was ruined when my ass was hanging out of that gown for everyone to see.” He flushed in embarrassment as he remembered running out of the room that he was checked into, seeing the form of Shuichi’s transparent body call out to him. “I’m sure there were a few people who were---“

“I’m sure Mr. Sakuma was pleased,” she answered. “He was more worried though. But—You killed some ladies out there.” She then had moved over to the side of Shuichi’s bed and had began to check the instruments for any changes.

“Hey . . . Arlena,” Eiri asked a moment later.

Her head looked up from what she was doing. “Yes?”

“I don’t usually say this but thank you. For everything, I mean.” Eiri had risen from the chair and had cracked his knuckles as he put the writing down. “I just don’t know if I should be trying to take Shuichi out of the hospital yet. He’s barely able to stay awake for more then a few hours at a time.”

A groan came from the bed as Eiri’s eyes looked down and saw violet eyes flickering open. He could see the tiredness in Shuichi’s eyes as he sat back down and took his hand. “Hey, brat,” he said. “You alright?”

Shuichi cleared his throat and had coughed a moment. He had the chest tube removed two days ago, but he still had some trouble breathing when he awoke at times. The boy nodded and he smiled. “Yuki . . . I heard something, but I’m not sure what it was. Just now, I mean.”

Eiri smirked. “Probably me. But are you feeling any better?”

For the last week Eiri had tried to ask him this and it was here that he could begin to see the lies through Shuichi’s expressive eyes. The man saw him glance away at the floor and he had grabbed his hand harder, taking a long breath. “ . . . I don’t know.”

At least that’s improving, Eiri thought. At least he’s not trying to say yes and lie right now.

“Mr. Shindou, I have some news for you, if you care to hear,” Arlena told him. “It’s good, I promise. No more bad news.”

“The press aren’t here?” Shuichi asked, his voice trembling. Shuichi laughed softly. Then he began coughing and then stopped a moment later.

“Yuki, I’m alright, really. You don’t need to crack jokes. It’s not like you.”

But don’t you see? If you know it isn’t like me, don’t you think being quiet and hiding how you feel isn’t like you, either, Shuichi?

But he did not voice that as Arlena laughed at the exchange between them.

“How would you feel if I said you could go home tomorrow, Mr. Shindou?” Arlena said. “The doctors think you’re ready enough now.”

For the first time since he had seen him, Shuichi had smiled broadly and cheered. In the middle of the loud cheer, he had began to cough violently and Eiri held up his shaking form until he was able to sit up again. “Calm down,” he muttered, but smiled as well. “You’ll work yourself up again.”

It was then that Shuichi had turned to Eiri and had hugged him softly. “I know. But I don’t wanna go in that car, Yuki . . .” he whispered, the happiness dissolving from his face. “I don’t—“

“We’ll worry about that tomorrow. For now, I have to go. She’s going to kick me out soon anyway, idiot.” Eiri had grabbed the stack of paper that he was writing and he started to get up. “Don’t worry, Shu. I meant what I said before. You think I’d take it back now?”

The other looked away and at the floor. “I don’t know, Yuki. I . . . I don’t think I know anything anymore. Why Tatsuha and Ryuichi . . . why they did what they did . . . but I just feel . . .” Shuichi trailed off before shaking his head and put a smile on his face. “I hope you don’t, Yuki.”

Why do his emotions conflict like that? Was I really that hard on that idiot that he would flinch away from me? I know we’ve both changed . . . but . . . if I knew I treated him harshly, I should have fixed it earlier. Dammit! His hand caressed Shuichi’s cheek and he kissed it softly. “I’ll be back in the morning. And when I come back, we’re going home, Shuichi.”

The other nodded as his eyes closed, his hand still holding onto Eiri’s. It slackened as he fell back asleep and he glanced to Arlena, who nodded to him. “You should go now if you’re going to leave, Mr. Uesugi. Mr. Shindou will be fine.”

Eiri nodded as he sighed softly. “How do I get him to open up again? He seems lost.”

“That, Mr. Uesugi, is something you will have to learn how to do. I’m afraid everyone works differently.” She had seen that Shuichi’s IV bag was nearly empty and had gone over to a cabinet to grab another one. “Go on. He’ll be here in the morning and you can take him home. I just suggest that you cancel what you had planned.”

“I was going to,” Eiri replied as he walked to the door. He stopped and had let his eyes drink in Shuichi’s sleeping form again. “I think that he’ll need me there a lot more now. And somehow, I don’t think I’m going to get used to that.”

“That’s why he needs to be out of here. If we keep him here, then he’ll be confined in the memories that have crippled him. And I have confidence that you are able to help Mr. Shindou, along with many of the friends and family that have came to visit him.” As she put the new bag on the pole that his other bags were on, she yawned softly. “Mr. Shindou seems like a strong man. He just needs to be pushed back in the right direction.”

Eiri nodded once more. “Yes. I do think that’s the case. Thank you. Goodnight, Arlena.” He turned around and buttoning up his coat, had headed out the door.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.