Chapter Text
Furihata had always been determined, Akashi knew. That hard working personality, his refusal to give up no matter how dire the situation were part of the reason Akashi fell for him. He’s always hesitant at first, but once he’s made up his mind there was no going back, this trait only continued to grow with the years. Akashi liked that about him, it was part of his boyfriend that he’d never change, but…there were times when he wished he actually could.
He turned the handle and the door creaked as he stepped inside the room.
He made sure to be as quiet as possible, treading carefully as to not rouse the person sleeping inside the room, and closed the door behind him.
It was well after the allowed visitation hours, but Akashi managed to get a permit, seeing as Midorima’s father was the chairman to the hospital. He wanted to make sure they were alone and that Furihata was asleep.
He inched closer to the bed where his lover was lying, breathing evenly through parted lips. His hand traced his jaw line, going upwards to caress his cheek, then trailed down his left arm, his skin brushing the bandages wrapped around it.
Akashi let out a shaky sigh, legs sinking to the floor as he rested his head on the edge of the bed, all worry and distress dissipated, slowly dissolving into utter relief.
He was all right, he was still breathing, he was still alive.
There was one matter taking over their conversation. Akashi would call them conversations, but they were more of quarrels. The two rarely fought, but lately whenever the matter of Furihata’s newest case was opened, hell seemed to break loose.
Furihata’s job as an investigative journalist filled Akashi with pride on many occasions; Furihata had helped expose many serious crimes that rendered the culprits behind bars. But, this time Furihata was after a big case, a corrupt politician, and it was proving to be more dangerous than he’d initially thought.
Numerous threats were delivered to their mailbox almost everyday, Furihata’s e-mail flooded with hate mail, warning him to back off the case or prepare for consequences.
While Akashi knew Furihata could take care of himself and this wasn’t the first time it had happened, it was never this intense. The letters flooding their mail box soon turned into death threats. It’s where Akashi drew the line.
The first time he suggested to drop the case, Furihata thought it was a bad joke. When Akashi’s serious expression didn’t change, his initial shock morphed into anger and their arguments only continued to get more heated every time.
He had seen how the case was wearing his lover down, how Furihata was buried into piles and piles of files everyday, how he had to leave the house in odd hours of the day only to come back utterly exhausted.
Akashi had wanted to offer support, but he couldn’t bring himself to agree with Furihata’s choices. He didn’t want to see him hurt because of a low life who decided to make true of his threats, but Furihata’s resolve didn’t waver, he was determined to bring him to justice.
They started talking less, their relationship slowly slipping into cold war.
Akashi’s concern for Furihata’s safety was overpowered by his anger at the brunet’s stubbornness. If he wished to be assaulted because of one case, if he wished to ignore Akashi’s reasoning on the matter and continue to put himself on line then so be it, Akashi wasn’t going to care anymore.
Even when he’s thought the words himself, he knew they held no truth.
He heaved a weary sigh a he sat down the chair he dragged near the bed. His hand gripped on Furihata’s uninjured one while the other tugged a loose strand of his hair behind his ear.
His face was pale, too pale.
The call that Akashi hoped would never come, came.
His lungs burned as he struggled to breath while listening to the man on the other side of the phone. He had ordered a few of his trusted men to guard Furihata from afar, but even so they were still a second too late to respond.
He was ambushed in the underground parking lot, three men armed with knives. Furihata’s left arm suffered from multiple wounds as he held it to protect his face, his men intervened and were able to hold two of the men down, but…
…none of them counted on the third accomplice to have a gun.
“mmm,”
Furihata stirred in his sleep before he slowly opened his eyes. Akashi loosened his grip on his hand as his heart trembled out of rhythm. Furihata groaned and clutched his head in pain, before he was fully awake, hazel eyes staring into crimson ones.
Furihata sat up in his bed almost instantly.
“S-Sei! What are you doing here?”
“Kouki, be careful,” Akashi said, making sure all tubes were still attached. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better than this morning for sure,”
“I’m glad,”
Akashi inched forward and rested his head on Furihata’s shoulder and let out a sigh of relief.
“He had a gun, Kouki,”
“I was wearing a vest, you know,”
“What if you weren’t-”
“But, I was.”
Akashi raised his head to look at Furihata, thousand emotions dancing in his eyes. His hand carefully reaching out to cup his cheek, and Furihata could feel the slight tremors in his fingers.
“…I though I lost you,”
Furihata rested his hand above Akashi’s, his heart twisting with guilt.
“…I’m sorry I worried you,” He paused a bit then continued. “And for this whole fight thing, I know you said it because you were worried-”
“No, even though I still believe you were reckless, I should’ve been supportive, I should’ve been there,”
“No! I was too stubborn, but you know how important this was to me-”
“I know,” he paused. “But, your safety is more important to me,”
They took a moment to stare at each other again before Furihata leaned against his chest. He’d missed the intimacy, Akashi’s smell always had a calming effect on his nerves. The experience was scary, and for a second he thought he’d never get to see Akashi again.
He’d tell him the case is on its way to being solved, that Aomine had linked the assault to the corrupted individual and that along with the evidence they’ve collected he was as good as gone, but he’d leave those details for later.
Right now he wanted to lose himself in the moment, he was here, Akashi was here, everything else was okay.