Kuroo

     No one said a word for the first few minutes. Oikawa turned and quickly retreated out the door, with a hand over his mouth and red eyes. They had chattered happily the entire ride, the excitement of finally knowing where the fuck Akaashi had been resonating through everyone. Hinata giggled endlessly and bounced in his seat, jiggling the table in front of him. Tsukishima scowled and pressed his hand to hold it still. They had taken the tour bus since the entire crew had banded together to go, minus Saeko, Alisa, Lev, and Yaku. The girls insisted on prepping Bokuto's apartment for the coming home party.

     But now the rhythmic beeping of his heart monitor filled the space.

     "Holy shit! He looks like he got hit by a damn car." Hinata finally exclaimed, his eyes filled with turmoil.

     Kuroo blinked, and as if returning to the world, his eyes wandered the room, and landed upon Akaashi again. His face contorted and relaxed, his breathing confused and uneven. He looked so peaceful and calm, like he was just sleeping. Kuroo's throat stung and he turned his head away and blinked hard.

     "Well, he was..." Sugawara said slowly, eyeing the reactions of the others. He moved cautiously to Kuroo, who drifted closer to Akaashi every second with a forlorn look on his face. Suga gently touched Kuroo's shoulder with a grim, but understandingly soft, expression. "You can touch him, or hold his hand. Even talking to him is fine. He may hear you." He offered.

     Kuroo's eyes fell to Suga, whom he couldn't quite read, and he nodded, before gulping down the lump in his throat. He took little tentative steps to Akaashi, and the small sniffles behind him from his friends drowned out for a moment. All he could see was Akaashi, and his soft expression and sharp features. He kneeled down slowly, reaching his shaking hand out. He paused a moment before touching his hand. Even unconscious and battered, Akaashi was a magnet to Kuroo. He resisted following the pull, for fear that if he truly touched Akaashi this reality would shatter and he would wake up wasted again. His fingers brushed over his scabbed knuckled, and he sucked in a breath. He slipped his cool hand into his, curling his limp fingers between his hands. He choked down his sobs forcefully, his bottom lip quivered unendingly as he leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I—is that why he's in a coma?"

     "We don't know exactly why he's in a coma." Suga began, wringing his hands as he spoke. "All his vitals re normal and he's perfectly stable. His charts all check out, it may just be his body's way of recuperating after a lot of emotional and physical duress."

     Tsukishima and Yamaguchi nodded approvingly at this answer, and Hinata stared at him blankly. Kenma and Yachi smiled slightly, and Kiyoko shook her head at the sun-child.

     "What's the extent of his injury? I see you have a cast on his arm and a soft cast on his ankle. Also his nose?" Yamaguchi inquired, stepping forward to stand next to his Senpai.

     Sugawara smiled proudly, throwing his arm around Yamaguchi. "Well, I'm glad you ask, Yamaguchi-chan. Overall, he had a few broken or bruised rips, and incomplete, closed fracture, and a punctured lung. The puncture was surprisingly minor but has given him a bit of trouble in the past few days. His ankle was sprained, but by now he should be fine walking on it when he wakes. His toes were a tad bit frostbitten, so he'll need a lot of feet rubs and soaking in hot water later just to help the blood flow. Some scary looking bruises, but they're not really an issue. Some scratches and stitches, and his nose had been broken previously. It more or less healed up, but we re-broke it so it heals up completely and properly. He does have a minor head injury, which may be the cause of his coma due to a concussion, but it's unlikely. We won't really know until he wakes up and is able to respond to stimuli. There are some other, how do you say, minor injuries that do need to be discussed, but it's nothing life threatening."

     "Oh, good, that's nothing," Yamaguchi sighed, placing his hand on top of his heart.

     Hinata stared at the two blankly before looking up to Tsukki. "Translate for those of us who don't study this or live with him."

     "He's beat the fuck up but he's fine." Tsukishima shrugged, and Yachi beamed and jumped into Kiyoko's arms. They laughed happily, until finally Kenma piped up.

     "When is he going to wake up?" He said quietly. Kuroo's eyes widened and he looked from Kenma to Suga. Yamaguchi's face fell, realization crossing his face.

     "We can't be sure."

     For a few days, everyone slept in the tour bus and visited for all of the hours, but soon everyone had to return to real life. Yamaguchi had to return to classes so he didn't fail out of university, and Kiyoko returned to work to inform everyone of how Akaashi was doing. Yachi and Hinata had to return due to work as well. The tour had been put on hold for about a week, with four shows being rescheduled, but soon they realized they couldn't just cancel the entire tour. Kuroo told them to replace him for the next few shows, and Oikawa whined about being the only alcoholic on tour this time. He got a laugh out of Kuroo, at least.

     Kuroo didn't leave Akaashi's side except to pee, and even when he had to go he begged for Suga to get him a cup. He even began to curl up on the small bed next to Akaashi, careful not to hurt him. Suga, at one point, dragged him by the ear off the bed, forced him to sit down and shower, eat, and use the restroom, then scolded him for laying on the bed with Akaashi.

     Kuroo sang often, lullabies, pop music, rock music, his music, all and any music that Akaashi ever liked. If he didn't remember words, he'd hum softly. He drew a crowd of nurses who fawned over him and fangirled and praised his devotion to Akaashi. He didn't even notice them, it just annoyed Suga whenever he had to fight through a crowd to check up on the pair. He once came in with his hair mussed up and his uniform disheveled, crying, "This is not a goddamn concert!" as he tried to hold the door shut.

     Kuroo told him gossip, how Bokuto seemed to have his eyes on a girl who couldn't stand him. Kuroo thought she was so much like Akaashi, and joked about Bokuto having a type. He told him about Kiyoko and Yachi's engagement, and how the wedding planning was going. Kuroo told him stories, stupid made up stories that he thought of on the spot. He had Suga bring him books and manga to read to him. He even spoiled the anime they watched together, but Akaashi wasn't awake to rage at him.

     It was a few days before Keiji's birthday when Kuroo finally broke down again. He sobbed quietly into Akaashi's hair, muttering his name over and over. Curling up around his "good" side, Kuroo clutched his hand, willing it to hold his back, or to warm up. His hand felt so cold and it scared him. It was just the chilly room but it still scared him.

     "I can't do this Akaashi. I am not strong enough for this. I miss you." He gasped, a string of sobs leaving his mouth. "I can't get anything done without you, I can't get anything real done. I think about walking down grocery isles with your hand in mine, or doing stupid chores and you spraying me with that stupid cleaning spray. I think about eating Cheetos and milk with you, and you trying to push me away because you think I'm demented for even having Cheetos and milk in the same vicinity." He tried to breathe in through his nose, but he couldn't anymore. "You're right here, physically you're right here with me. I can smell your hair and hold your hand and you're breathing. You're right here with me but you're so far away."

     He tried to control his breathing, but he only began hiccupping. "Goddammit," He cursed, turning over Keiji's hand in his. He traced the heart-lines of his palms.

     "I wanted you back by Christmas, y'know. I want to get to prank you for your birthday again, too. I wanted to wake up with you on Christmas morning in my cat-onsy you hate—the one that I have with the little santa clause hats, the one that Bo has the owl version of. I wanted to open gifts with you and Yams and have an excuse to drag Tsukki-chan out of bed at 4:00am and slap a pair of reighndeer ears on him and see how infinitely pissed off he gets."

     He leaned down to kiss Akaashi's palm, his tears dripping onto his skin. "Please wake up. Pretty please. Pretty please with a bunch of cherries on top..." He muttered. "Let this be my gift. It'll be the best I'll ever get, I promise."

     His shoulders shook as he cried, and he didn't even notice the twitch of Keiji's fingers.

     A croaky, unused voice startled him. Keiji peaked out of an eye. "You're a fucking sap, huh?"