Chapter Text
Yuuta was half asleep, curled into a ball, buried beneath a heaping pile of blankets. The tacky faux leather of the pullout couch stuck uncomfortably to any exposed skin, and the scratchy wool of the fabric draped over his body were perplexingly too hot and yet never able to hold in enough heat. The sterile, acrid smell of the hospital never quite let his consciousness relax enough to allow him to drift off to sleep.
It doesn't help that I’m never warm.
He fought through a shiver. An obnoxious quirk he'd been forced to acknowledge while occupying Yui's body, was how he was always cold during the winter months. The fact that school still required girls to wear skirts during the winter was an absolute travesty. What the hell was wrong with wearing pants?
Letting out a long sigh he sat up and rubbed his eyes. The room was dark save for what little light slipped in through the blinds from the hallway, otherwise all he could see were small LED lights blinking unnaturally at one another in the stale murk. Another shiver coursed along his back, he gripped the bottom layer and pulled it close to his chest, muttering a curse, "Why’s it freezing in here all the damn time?"
A croaking voice crept out of the dark to answer his question, "keeping the building cold slows the growth of bacteria and viruses and stuff."
Yuuta's head snapped over to the bed across the room to his left. He quickly looked at the red display on the wall; 03:45. He felt his brow crease as concern bloomed in his abdomen. "Why're you up?"
"Too hot." Yui's throat sounded like how he imagined a desert felt.
That must be nice.
He stood, quickly pulling the bottom layer out and wrapping it around his shoulders, letting the rest fall off. He could feel the icy tile permeate through his socks, another shiver made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
He heard Yui shift in her bed. "Why are you awake?" She sounded annoyed, or maybe she just was in pain.
“Too cold,” he murmured, gritting his teeth to stop them from chattering. Clutching the thin blanket tighter, he gingerly made his way across the room to the head of Yui's bed. He let out a tiny yelp when his frozen foot collided painfully with a stool, sending it rolling into the dark out of his way. "Damn it."
Yui's weight shifted again, "You okay?”
Reaching out blindly he fumbled for a light switch he knew was somewhere above Yui's headboard.
"Yuuta?" She mumbled.
He found the switch, "close your eyes." He pressed his closed and thumbed the toggle. Yui groaned in protest. He opened one eye to test how bright the little overhead light was, before opening both fully. He looked down at the bed, she had her arm over her eyes, nose scrunched with displeasure.
She let out another voiceless groan. He snorted and cocked an eyebrow, "I gave you plenty of warning." She adjusted her head to peered at him with squinting eyes, he just grinned. "Gimme a sec."
Yuuta looked to his right and located a plastic cup with a kinked straw poking out of it sitting on Yui's bedside table. He reoriented his grip on the blanket to work with one hand, freeing the other to pick it up with his fingertips. Padding over to the water cooler next to the couch, he plucked the straw out of the cup with his teeth, bent down and filled the vessel with room temperature water. Returning to her side he used his foot to maneuver the stool into place, positioned his makeshift cloak over the seat before settling on it. He released the straw back into the cup, and held it out. "Drink."
"Not thirsty." She dropped her arm and looked away.
He rolled his eyes. "You're a terrible liar." He scooched the stool closer, propping his elbow on the mattress. "C'mon. You don't have to sit up, but you need to drink something."
She continued to oppose him. "I'm okay..."
He scoffed. "What did I say about lying?" She didn't reply. "Yui, please."
The air-con kicked on to fill the silence between them. He looked her over, most of the bandages on her left arm had been removed, and the road rash on her palms was starting to clear up, but he knew that the recovery process had only just started. Getting hit by a truck tends to do that to people. He sighed.
What’s the point in being so stubborn?
He set the cup on the table and wheeled himself along the side of the bed so he was lined up with her hand. Awkwardly, he bent over to rest his cheek on her upturned palm. The position hurt his neck and put his hips at an uncomfortable angle, but holding it for a while wouldn't be awful. Yui's head raised some as she looked at him. He met her eyes, fatigue could hardly describe the look scrawled on her face.
He spoke quietly, "it's okay to let others care for you." The smile that crossed her lips was barely perceptible. She lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the ceiling.
They stayed like that for a while, Yuuta closed his eyes as he felt the heat of her hand warm his skin. Her thumb gently caressed his cheek. Her palm was still rough, but he didn’t care, this felt right.
"You've done enough." Her quiet, raspy voice sounded pained. "You don't need to stay with me."
Exhaustion passed over him in a wave, he felt a long sigh being drawn out of his body in reply.
Nevermind, not just stubborn. Stubborn AND dense.
He didn't want to leave her warmth, but he resisted the urge to let the moment pass. Slowly, he sat back up and moved towards the head of the bed. He stuck a hand out from under his blanket, reaching for her face. She turned to look at him.
Meeting her familiar brown eyes he gently flicked her nose. "Stupid.” Yui flinched from the sudden motion with a horse cry escaping her lips and a stunned look on her face.
Adjusting the blanket again he crossed his arms on the bed and let his chin rest on his wrists. Her face was covered in stark shadows thanks to the light overhead, but he still traced over the finer details he could make out. A few faded red lines still showing the remnants of cuts and scrapes.
No one really gets to see their own face up close like this do they?
It was a novel thought, and one he’d entertained often since they first swapped. But he couldn't shake that something was different in how he felt looking at his old visage.
"It's not... mine anymore is it?" The words tumbled quietly out of his mouth.
Yui blinked and rolled her head to look at him. "What?"
He grimaced, that wasn’t meant to be out loud.
Might as well commit to it.
"Your face." Yuuta pulled a hand out from under his chin and slipped it between her cheek and the pillow. "It's not mine anymore." He felt a sad smile touch his lips, he couldn't help but notice how small his hand was next to her. Yui's hand had neatly held nearly his head, while his only covered a little more than half of her face.
Yui closed her eyes and pressed her face deeper into his palm, her ragged breathing eliciting gooseflesh along his arm.
So much had happened in the last two weeks. The accident. The swap correcting itself. The searing pain he'd felt upon waking up in the same bed Yui was lying in now. And the gaping hole he'd felt upon realizing that she'd somehow force their twisted miracle back upon them.
None of this changed that he was grateful for her choice. The way Kazuma had explained it, if Yui hadn’t managed the impossible, Yuuta very well may have died that day. It still didn’t make much sense to him, but it was the only theory any of them had; the body swap required life and death, their souls leaving the mortal coil for however long required. It wasn’t a flawless concept, but thinking about it too much made Yuuta’s head hurt.
Being back in his original body had been a surprise, broken bones and all, but thinking back on it all he'd hardly had any time to consciously understand how it felt about returning to a form that hadn't been his for nearly 8 years. Hazy recalls and flashes of memory were practically the only thing he had left: Haruki crying, the pink cap, Yui's confession, her warmth holding him tightly, and her final plea to turn them back. According to the medical staff they had both passed out, well, not entirely. Yui's body simply collapsed to the floor, but Yuuta's body, having been connected to the heart monitor, flat-lined for nearly a minute. Causing an obscene panic amongst his family and the staff. Yuuta had come to shortly thereafter, finding himself propped in the corner with a nurse shining a flashlight in his eyes calling for him to respond.
"Your hands are cold." Yui opened her eyes again.
He let a wide smile spread across his face, "And I'm simply here to steal your-" He stopped for effect, "...my? Your body heat. Consider it my reward."
"For what?"
He withdrew his hand from between her and the pillow, sitting up. "The water you're about to drink." He nabbed the cup again and shoved it in her face.
Her look went sour. "I told you, I'm not thirsty." She turned away in a huff.
Not even a truck could stop Yui from being herself.
He puffed his cheeks.
Gonna have to turn it up a notch.