Chapter Text
Holly knocked on the door of their former lover’s home again, anxiously waiting for him to open the door. This wasn’t out-of-character for Rohan, as he never paid attention to his surroundings when he was working on his manga; hell, Holly used to joke that if someone had broken into his home, he wouldn’t have noticed until they were long gone. Who knew this little quirk of his would become troublesome one day.
Another attempt at knocking, and Holly sighed. Maybe it was best to just try the door. He shouldn’t mind - they had informed him beforehand anyways. Their hand turned the door handle, surprised to find it unlocked, but didn’t think much of it. Rohan probably left it unlocked just for this scenario.
“Rohan, it’s me. I’m coming in,” they called out, hearing no response. Again, this wasn’t unusual, so they didn’t think much of it either.
They took their shoes off before stepping into the house. Just from a first glance, the interior already looked dirty; it had only been two days since Holly left, and yet dust had already started to cake on the floors, sticking to Holly’s socks as they walked. Even when he wasn’t working on his manga, Rohan had a habit of putting cleaning aside until it got out of hand, so this was expected. It was one of the reasons Rohan had agreed to Holly moving in; they had agreed to do the chores while they lived there.
Walking through the large house, footsteps echoing throughout the hallway, Holly started to reminisce on all the memories they shared with Rohan in this very house: the first time they moved in, the time the two watched a horror movie together, the time Holly burned themselves while cooking… They shook their head to rid it of the thoughts, making a beeline for Rohan’s room.
They didn’t quite make it there, though, because on the floor, halfway into the kitchen, was Rohan, lying face-down on the floor.
“Rohan!” Holly cried out, running and kneeling beside him, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him. His lack of reaction made their panic rise even more, tears spilling from their eyes as they tried to turn him over - it was difficult for Holly to do alone, but after a bit of struggling, they succeeded, cushioning the back of his head with their hand. They pressed their ear against his chest, relieved to hear a heartbeat - it was slow, but it was there.
Stay calm, Holly, stay calm, they assured themselves, taking out their phone with trembling hands. He’s alive. He’ll be fine. Rohan’s not going to die, he’ll be fine. They dialed Mizu’s number, their own heartbeat quickening with every beep of the line until Mizu finally, finally, picked up.
“Hello?” they heard on the other end of the line. “You don’t usually call. What’s up?”
“Rohan’s house,” they blurted out, too panicked to form coherent sentences. “I- He’s not- So I went to his house and he was on the floor and won’t wake up! And I don’t- I didn’t know who to call, I’m sorry-”
“Holly, hey, calm down.” Mizu interrupted. “Rohan’s house, right? I’m heading there right now. Is he breathing?”
“I, uh-” Holly watched Rohan’s chest for a moment, confirming its rise and fall. “Yes.”
“Good. I’ll be there in 15 minutes. In the meantime, loosen anything constrictive - belts, collars - and raise his legs above heart level. About 30 centimetres if possible.”
“What about his headband?”
“Take it off just in case.”
“Okay.” Holly carefully slid Rohan’s headband off his forehead, placing it aside, and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt. It was a little awkward taking his belt off, but they did it successfully as well, also placing it aside. For his legs, Holly managed to find a cushion to prop them up - maybe not 30 centimetres high, but it was good enough. “Okay, I did it.”
“Alright, good. I’m almost there, so don’t panic. Maybe about… 7 minutes or so.” They could hear the sound of cars driving past through the phone. “Stay on the line.”
“Okay,” they said, the shock starting to dissipate as they started to calm down.
Mizu arrived exactly 7 minutes later with his boyfriend, Jotaro, who helped get Rohan in the car. Holly barely remembered the trip to the hospital; they sat in the backseat, lap propping Rohan’s legs up, eyes squeezed shut as they prayed that Rohan would be alright - a repetitive, messy prayer of please God please God please please please I don’t want him to die I want him to be okay God please please let us arrive at the hospital safely God please that Holly only said in the worst of times. The car swerved a couple times, accompanied by Jotaro cursing underneath his breath, and Holly worried that Rohan’s head would hit the car door a little too hard every time it did. It felt like the hospital was thousands of miles away, despite Mizu reassuring them every minute that they were almost there.
Everything else was a blur after that - Holly couldn’t hear anything the doctors and nurses asked them, leaving Mizu to help fill out the details of what happened, and it turned out that Holly was Rohan’s emergency contact, and Holly couldn’t remember why, but it meant that they had to stay. The hecticness only ended once Holly was sitting beside Rohan’s hospital bed, and even then the brain fuzz didn’t leave.
“Hunger,” the doctor stated coldly. “He hasn’t eaten in at least two days.”
“Whuh…?” Holly mumbled, feeling like their brain was being enveloped in a thick jelly.
The doctor sighed and turned to Mizu. “Does she speak English?”
“They,” Mizu corrected, a hint of irritation in his voice.
Rolling his eyes, the doctor asked again. “Do they speak English?”
“Yes, but they’re in shock right now, for God’s sake. You can afford to be a little nicer, doctor. ”
“I don’t have to be nice to savages like you.”
Jotaro’s chair crashed to the floor, the man now towering over the doctor, eyes daring him to repeat what he had just said. The old man stuttered in fear, his knees shaking, clearly regretting what he had just said. Mizu was quick to calm his boyfriend down, squeezing his hand, saying something in Japanese that Holly couldn’t quite catch. He sighed, picking up his chair and sitting back down, but kept his glare on the doctor.
He was a little nicer to Holly after that.
‘Hunger,’ they thought, the word aching in their chest. Rohan was the type to forget all his basic needs when focused on his work, only eating or sleeping when Holly reminded him to. Was this their fault then? Was it wrong for them to leave? Should they have grinned and beared with the one-sided love, instead of almost sacrificing a life?
Holly felt tears sting their eyes. They tried to hold them back, but one by one they spilled onto their lap, until Holly was quietly sobbing, wiping their nose with their sleeve.