Chapter Text
On his way to his last class, Miya was in a bit of a hurry.
Scratch that- a big hurry.
He was definitely about to be late, and he couldn’t let that end up on his records.
Tardiness was purley, and simply, for slimes- and he was no slime.
He swerved easily through the crowds of people, many of them towering over him as he decided foolishly to take a shortcut through the hallway in which a lot of the higher grades classes were set.
Skateboarding may have been one of the biggest things people disliked him for in his school, but it sure did help with his swiftness.
His science class was just at the far end, and Miya found it a lot more practical to get there this way. He was given some unfamiliar looks, and some friendly smiles from a few girls who he accidentally made eye contact with. He just had a few more doors to get by, and he’d be safe from being late!
Until he crashed into someone blocking the entire hallway.
He stumbled back, catching himself rather ungracefully. He looked over to see the barricade of older boys. The guy he bumped into glared towards Miya.
Miya widened his eyes, and scratched his neck. Although all he wanted to do was shout a complaint about them standing around in the hallways, he chose to be civil considering they all looked like they could snap him in half, “Sorry about that!”
“Watch where you're going, weirdo!”
“He looks like he’s in elementary school.”
“What’s with the kid?”
Miya gulped, smiling awkwardly and waving his hand, “Again, really sorry! I’ll just go-”
“Hold it,” the guy who Miya bumped into initially, “Aren’t you that idiot who skateboards for a living?”
Miya crossed his arms in front of him, not to seem defensive, but more to comfort himself from the unexpected conversation he was about to ensue while he was still racing time to get to his science class.
“Yep, that’s me,” Miya nodded, “Why?”
“Oh, you just annoy the shit out of me.”
Oh.
Miya shrugged, giving off his signature smile he specifically used for interviews, “Ah, sorry! Well, I’ll get out of your way then, have a good-”
Miya was silenced by a kick to his ankle. He winced.
Laughter started to rumble through Miya’s ears. They were laughing at him.
“Please, no way we’re giving up on beating you to the ground! Maybe then someone else will have a chance at being the best!” another kick to his leg was felt. Miya yelped, he really did not have the time for this.
Miya didn’t know how to fight them off, he was never taught those basic skills.
He just had to stand there and let all of it happen.
Miya’s head pounded as he was shoved into the wall.
It had already been a good two minutes, and these guys were absolutely ruthless with him.
Despite himself, Miya couldn’t help but express pain. His head was bleeding, his arm definitely out of socket, and a lot of his body had gone completely numb. He was used to being picked on and shoved around, but this was nothing like the other times.
These guys were older, and much bigger than him.
They were shouting at him and throwing him like he was a toy.
Obviously, a crowd had formed. It had become almost like a show to the other kids at school when pro-skateboarded Miya Chinen was getting his ass kicked in the halls.
But Miya couldn’t help but think- damn! Could this possibly get any worse?
His question was answered sooner than later, as he felt himself being mauled by another guy, who seemed to join in on the fight, with hands trapped in his throat as he suddenly had to gasp for air.
Holy shit.
Miya felt his eyes grow watery, he couldn’t even see whoever was in front of him.
His heart beat faster than light.
His legs gave out.
His arms couldn’t even catch himself.
His lungs were screaming.
The bell ringing and a feeling of dread was all Miya could make out.
He was so sure- at that moment in time- that he was going to die as his vision went dark and the world collapsed around him.
It had been a slow day at Sia La Luce.
Cherry was sitting in his normal spot, typing away on his laptop- something to do with upgrading Carla to stop listening to Reki’s sarcastic jokes so seriously- while making small talk with Joe everytime he made his way out of the kitchen.
Langa and Reki were due any minute, as the school day was coming to a close.
Miya was bound to be here in a couple hours, too, since he always loved hanging out before they went to S on Fridays.
Joe had just finished sending a customer on their way, waving to them- friendly as always- when he heard Cherry’s phone start to ring. He grabbed it for him and slid it across the counter, “Who’s that?”
Cherry looked over, the number being unknown. He shrugged and clicked the answer button, bringing it close to his ear. It wasn’t a scam call, so he might as well answer it just to make sure it wasn’t one of the kids’ new numbers, or something to do with work.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” an unfamiliar voice came through the phone, “We’re calling from the middle school to let you know we are currently transporting your child to the local hospital.”
Cherry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “I’m sorry, what?”
“Your son was ganged up on in the halls this afternoon,” the voice was filled with concern, “We’ve never seen something so horrible, and we wanted you to know that we are making sure he is on his way to proper care.”
Cherry had no idea what was going on.
He cleared his throat, “Ma’am, who are you talking about?”
“Oh, apologies, you might have more than one child,” she chuckled awkwardly, trying to ease the tension, “We’re talking about your twelve year old? Miya Chinen?”
Cherry’s hand flew to his mouth.
He was so happy he hadn’t told her she didn’t have a child.
Had Miya not given his real parents phone number to the school?
Cherry looked at Joe, mouthing ‘Miya.’
Joe nodded.
“Oh, oh god,” Cherry managed to say, “Okay, yes. Thank you, his- his father and I will be there soon.”
“Of course,” the woman said, “Take care.”
Cherry heard the call end. He was absolutely stunned, he could not even move.
“Kaoru?” Joe said, going around the counter to grab his boyfriend's shoulder, “Kaoru, what happened? Miya?”
Cherry dropped his phone, “We gotta go to the hospital, he- he- god! Some fuckers hurt him, let’s go!”
“What?!” Joe’s eyes grew in size, full of visual concern, “Shit! Yes, oh my god. Come on, come on.”
The two skaters grabbed their few needed things, and Joe locked up the restaurant faster than he ever did in his time at the place.
There was no time to call a cab, they needed to get to Shadow’s job as fast as possible- he was the only one with a car.
Joe still had his work clothes on, and Cherry was wearing something casual- which was something he never went out in. He didn’t care, though, he cared about getting to Miya. Their skateboards could not have been going any slower.
In reality, the boards were going as fast as ever, but if they weren’t already at Shadow’s, Cherry and Joe found them useless.
They rounded a sharp corner, skidding into a busy street.
Both knew neither of them could skate safely all the way down the couple blocks, they’d have to run to the flower shop. Otherwise, they would upset pedestrians and cars.
Joe grabbed Carla, and his own board, and they booked it.
Running was neither of their forte, they used a hunk of wood on some wheels for crying out loud! Running wasn’t too much of a necessity for them.
Out of breath and on the borderline of becoming too sweaty for comfort, they entered the flower shop. The aroma flew through their noses as they frantically looked for Shadow. As if on cue, the orange haired man walked in from the back room with a few flower boxes piling up in his hands. He dumped them onto the counter before shouting, “Langa, Reki! Bring those in carefully!”
“Shadow!” Cherry gasped, slumping his forearms onto the counter, “We need to go to the hospital! Not later, not in a few minutes, fucking right now!”
“The hospital?” Langa suddenly stood behind the florist, eyeing Cherry, “Is everything okay?”
“No!” Cherry shouted. Joe could feel the stress flowing from the pink haired man's body, he pulled him away from the counter, staring Shadow dead in the eye.
He told him, “It’s Miya.”
“Say no more, shit,” Shadow tore his apron off, running back to the back room, “C’mon! Cars out back!”
Joe and Cherry followed Shadow through the backroom and out the backdoor.
The two fatherly figures of their group dashed out the door. Before Langa trailed behind them, he grabbed Reki’s hand, “Come on. It’s Miya.”
“Miya?!” Reki said, confused. He hadn’t even heard them talking about the hospital.
And just like that, they were piled into the familiar car. Shadow turned the keys and began driving them far too fast for the comfort of Reki and Langa. Both were so confused, normally if Shadow was driving like a maniac, at least Joe would tell him to pump the brakes a bit.
“What happened, Cherry?!” Reki said, being the first one to talk.
“Miya’s in the hospital.” Joe answered for him. Reki should have noticed that Cherry was sitting in the passenger seat with his hand covering his mouth as he gazed out the window. Cherry always covered his mouth when he was scared.
“What?!” Reki’s mouth flew open, “What happened? Fuck, is he okay?!”
“We don’t know,” Joe said, trying to keep calm, “Just- just wait until I can tell you, okay?”
Reki and Langa were visibly nervous.
Their heads almost crashing into the top of the car when Shadow sped over speed bumps that littered the city roads of Okinawa were the least of their worries now.
In a few minutes, Cherry and Joe booked it out of the car. Joe turned to Reki and Langa, “You stay here, got it? Shadow will keep you updated- uh, you got your phones?”
Both Reki and Langa shook their heads, they’d left their bags at the flower shop.
Joe would've loved to know about their day working with Shadow, but he had to get to his kid. He pulled out his own phone and handed it to Reki, “Play some games, do what you want. Don’t text Cherry, he’s really scared, ‘kay?”
Reki muttered an ‘okay’ as Langa nodded his head.
Joe closed the car door and jogged to meet Cherry, who was almost about to go through the hospital doors.
Joe grabbed him, “Kaoru, how are we going to work this? We aren’t his parents.”
“I know,” Cherry said, “We’ll just have to figure something out, if we were on his emergency contact list, that has to mean something.”
“Well, yeah,” Joe pursed his lips together, “Why’d Miya do that without telling us?”
“It’s Miya, that’s why.”
Joe nodded. He was so nervous, “Right. C’mon, love.”
The automatic doors opened for them as they hurried to the front desk.
A young man, clearly an intern, sat at the front and looked up, “Hi, how can I help you?”
“My- uh, my son,” Cherry told him, “He was transported by ambulance from the middle school just a few blocks from here.”
The guy nodded, “I did hear about that, I’m so sorry. May I get his name and birthdate?”
“Chinen Miya,” said Cherry, thinking quickly, “His birthday is the twenty second of February.”
Quick clicks on the keyboard and another nod from the intern, “Yes, he arrived about twenty minutes ago. You’re going to want to head down that hallway towards the ICU.”
“The ICU?” Joe felt his stomach drop.
“So far, the only information I have is severe head trauma,” he said, shaking his head, “They’ll help you two out.”
Cherry’s hand gripped Joe’s arm, “Okay, thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
Cherry looked towards the hallway the intern pointed them to and the couple began swifty walking towards the large door labeled in big, red letters ‘ICU.’
The worry filled both of them even worse. In sync, they stopped in front of the doors. Joe looked down to Cherry, “I’m so fucking scared.”
“You think I’m not?”
“No, I know you are,” Joe said, “I know you too well.”
Cherry tilted his head down, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so scared for someone in my life. I’ve never had to worry about anyone but you!”
Joe let him talk.
“How am I meant to take care of him? He’s a child,” said Cherry, picking at the skin on the side of his fingers, “He’s our child.”
Joe nodded, he agreed. Over the past few months, Miya became more and more theirs. Of course he wasn’t a biological kid, but he sure acted like he was.
Miya was a mixture of Cherry’s wit and sarcasm and Joe’s outgoing and fun personality. For pete’s sake, Miya even loved to skate as much as they did. Blood couldn’t define their little family.
“We’re gonna take care of him together,” Joe said hopefully, “Hell, we’ll take care of Reki and Langa, too. We got a lot to learn, huh?”
This was something that the couple never anticipated when they were given the unspoken job of being the parents of the group. Cooking, cleaning, making sure they showered, making sure they were hydrated, sending Miya to school, helping with homework, letting them cry on their shoulders, and having an overall good time with them the best they could, were all the things that they felt like they signed up for.
Sure, Reki has fallen and gotten scratched up, and of course Langa still ran into walls constantly. But their youngest was in the ICU, and they were lost at what to do. Neither of them ever thought they’d be in this situation.
Joe looked back from the doors to Cherry. He knew how terribly uncomfortable his boyfriend must’ve been. No matter how beautiful Joe found him, he knew Cherry didn’t like being out in public without proper attire.
“Come on, gorilla.”
Joe wrapped his arm around Cherry’s wasit, “We got this.”
At long last they entered the intensive care unit. Just as before, they walked up to the lady who was running the front desk. She smiled, “Hi, how can I help you both?”
“Um, we’re here for Chinen Miya,” Cherry explained, “He was brought by ambulance from the middle school.”
The women gasped, “Oh, my! I’m so sorry, you must be so stressed.”
Cherry nodded, “Can we get any information?”
“Oh, absolutely,” she said, “You two are his parents? Brothers?”
Joe squeezed Cherry closer to him, nothing noticeable, “We’re his parents.”
The woman clicked her mouse around on her computer, “Right, and his date of birth?”
Cherry responded with the date and the woman nodded her head, “Alright, dears. Take these stickers and go speak to the doctor in the room right over there, I believe she’d have all the information on your son.”
She had pointed towards one of the many white doors on the side of the walls. Cherry muttered a ‘thank you’ and immediately started walking over, pulling Joe right along with him.
The ICU was pretty much empty, only a few people sat amongst the chairs in the hallway. They were probably family members worried out of their minds, too.
A few, very young children, were sitting next to a mother. They even saw just a teenage kid- about Reki and Langa’s age- at the end of the hallway all by himself.
The hospital was such a scary place.
Joe’s heart was pounding a mile a minute as he tapped three knocks onto the door labeled ‘Dr. Nhi.’ Although he didn’t want to know about the pain Miya had to go through, he had to. Both him and Cherry were going to have to sit through this. As much as it will hurt their hearts, their pain will be nowhere near what Miya’s is.
The door opened, revealing a woman who looked older than them. She offered a sad smile, “You two must be here for young Miya.”
They nodded.
“Come in, take a seat.”
She sat on a small rolling chair as the two plopped themselves onto the stable chairs that were leaned against the wall.
The room was filled with different colored drawings, colorful baskets filled with small trinkets, and even the examination bed was covered in vibrant shades of colors.
“I’m Dr. Nhi,” she said, extending her arm out to shake Joe and Cherry’s hand, “I specialize in taking care of children who enter the ICU.”
Joe smiled, “That explains the room.”
“Yeah,” she chuckled, “A lot of my patients end up coming back here for me to check up on them, so I try to make my space more comfortable.”
She swiveled towards her computer, opening up a document, “So, Miya is in a small surgery right now.”
“Fuck.” Cherry mumbled.
“His head was severely injured, and he did experience pretty alarming blood loss,” Dr. Nhi explained to them, “His shoulder was out of socket, too, but that was an easy fix.”
She typed a few things into her device, “He was brutally beaten, do you know why this could have happened?”
“God, no,” Joe gawked, “He’s such a brilliant kid, I can’t even imagine anyone doing that to him.”
“He struggles with making friends at school, but he’s never been this hurt,” said Cherry, rubbing his arms subconsciously, “Miya is- is- he’s so… jesus, fuck.”
“I understand the frustration,” the doctor expressed, “I have another question, a lot of parents do find this offensive, but I legally have to ask if the child has older bruises or marks on them.”
They looked at her to go on.
She was definitely referring to the older bruises Miya had gotten the last time they all went skating.
“Neither of you result to violence towards him, correct?”
“Christ, no!” Joe gasped, “He skateboards, he’s a nationalist qualifier. Even with such skill, he can still fall over sometimes.”
Dr. Nhi smiled, “I didn’t doubt either of you, it’s just legal business and what-not! That’s very impressive, you two must be very proud.”
“We are.” Cherry said, his voice quiet.
“Alright,” the woman said, “His surgery is just to stitch up the spots he was bleeding from, and he’ll need to be on oxygen for a little while when we set him up in a room.”
Cherry tilted his head, “Why’s that?”
“According to the teacher that tore apart the fight,” Dr. Nhi recalled, “He was choked until he was unconscious. His neck is severely bruised, so there’s no reason to not believe the teacher.”
She shook her head, unsurely, “Once he’s conscious again, we’ll have to take some tests to make sure he has no long term side effects from the stranglization.”
Dr. Nhi began listing off the different side effects that were most common, such as trouble swallowing food, drinking water, or even his speech.
She explained that she believed that- from what she knew after seeing Miya in such a state- he could be in danger of brain damage, which could result in memory loss, “When a child- or anyone really- doesn’t get air to their brain for a specific amount of time, that would lead to bigger problems. So far, I don’t know if I can tell you that Miya is okay.”
Cherry felt his heart burn.
What would he do without Miya?
He leaned his head over to Joe, nodding to let the woman know he understood what she said.
Joe didn’t even know if he could talk. Miya had such a beautiful life mapped out for him, and he couldn’t help but wish he had been there to knock those kids who hurt his kiddo straight into next week.
“We’ll let you in after he gets situated into a room,” Dr. Nhi said, standing up to open the door for them, “It could be an hour or two, just a heads up.”
“That’s not a problem,” Cherry was the first to stand up after the doctor, “I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
She smiled and told them goodbye as the skaters made their way to sit down in the same hallway they’d just seen all of the other people in.
Once the doctor retreated back into her room, Cherry looked up at Joe, “Kojiro.”
“I know, baby,” Joe’s eyes struggled to hold back his tears of pure frustration and worry. He wrapped his arms tightly around Cherry, burying his head in the pink hair, “Miya’s so strong, he can do this.”
Cherry shook in Joe’s strong arms, “Why did they do this to fucking Miya?! Why the fuck was it Miya, why, Kojiro! Why?!”
“I don’t know, Kaoru,” Joe felt tears begin to slip from his eyes, “He didn’t deserve this.”
“No child fucking deserves this!” Kaoru was shouting in the quietest way, “But.. but- shit! Is it wrong of me to have wanted it to happen to another kid? I just… not Miya.”
Joe nodded against his boyfriend's head, “No, it sucks. I don’t want kids to get hurt, but I especially don’t want Miya hurt, it’s not wrong. You’re okay.”
Cherry’s pure nervousness turned into tears, “That’s the problem. I should’ve been able to help him, or- or something, Koji.”
“Ru,” Joe said, “I get it, I get that because I wish I would’ve been there, too, but there’s nothing we could’ve done to prevent this, don’t you think?”
Cherry tried thinking of every possible way he could’ve prevented this.
Obviously, every morning he’d get a text in their skate group chat that Miya hated waking up so early to go to school, or that he didn’t want to even go.
Cherry felt like he should’ve just told him he’d come get him and they could have done something else. Maybe today he should’ve given in to the cat hooded childs complaints.
“We could’ve kept him home.”
“Like you would let any of those kids miss school.” Joe retaliated, rubbing Cherry’s back softly, “Miya is not hurt because of you, or me. He’s hurt because life fucking sucks, and it happens.”
Cherry sighed, his breath shaky due to the burning in his throat as he tried forcing back the tears that continuously fell down his face, “I hope he’s okay.”
“We’ll be able to see him in a little, ‘kay?”
Joe was so much calmer than Cherry when it came to situations like this.
Of course, Joe was absolutely terrified for Miya, but he was able to control his worries to a minimum. Cherry was typically the more collected one of the two, but for some reason, serious situations made him crack if they were big enough.
He was so lucky to have such a balanced person with him. Joe was a happy, outgoing personality, but knew how to handle things like an adult when Cherry couldn’t.
“Yeah.” Cherry responded.
Quickly after they were both settled into their seats, Joe remembered he left his phone with Reki and Langa. He was probably going to need that, so he decided he’d go back out to the car.
He nudged Cherry a bit as he stood back up, “I’m gonna go back to the car. Gonna check on Reki and Langa while I’m getting my phone.”
“Be sure to update them calmly, you dimwit. Don’t worry about them, you know how Langa will get, and then Reki will start spiraling-” He was silenced by a quick peck on the lips.
Joe looked at him and offered a reassuring smile.
“I’ll keep them sane, okay?” Joe said, kissing him one more time, “Want me to get you a jacket? I think the one I wore last time we drove with Shadow is still in the trunk.”
Cherry nodded.
“Alrighty, I’ll be right back.”