Chapter Text
"Mom? Mom! MOM!!" Reki screamed at the top of his lungs as his mom swerved to the side. They had been driving back home after a trip to tour a possible college for Reki. It had been a very long day and everyone but Reki and his mom was asleep, his mom actively falling asleep.
There was a loud crash as they collided with the car next to their right. There was a symphony of sickening crunches and squishy sounds when the two cars went flying to the side and forwards, causing them to collide with other cars nearby.
Reki was in so much pain, but at least he was breathing. He had to stay awake. He couldn’t be pulled under. After what felt like an eternity of his ears ringing and the radio playing in the background, he finally heard sirens.
“Can you tell me your name?” The voice sounded muffled and that god awful ringing just wouldn't go away. He barely managed to croak out his name before he felt his consciousness slipping away quicker and quicker.
“Okay Mr. Kyan, try to stay with me, you can sleep soon, just try to stay awake for a little longer. Can you tell us your birth date?” Another voice asked. Or maybe it was the same. All Reki could focus on was staying awake.
“17,” Reki could only say how old he was before slipping even further to the point that he couldn’t hear what was going on, just that damn ringing.
He managed to get enough of a grip to hear, “It’s okay, you can sleep now.” The voice was still muffled but at least now he was able to sleep. He almost instantaneously slipped away and into the world of dreamless sleep.
When he woke, he didn’t even have the energy to open his eyes. It took a moment for the pain to set in, and when it did he immediately wished to be back asleep, even if it wouldn’t last long.
Though hey, at least that ringing was gone. That was one thing to be glad for. “YOU STUPID, STUPID, STUPID SLIME!!” A voice cried.
Hey, I know that voice…
“Sir, I’m sorry, but please stop yelling or I’m afraid we’ll have to remove you.”
Suddenly there was a small depression next to Reki's leg and he heard someone crying. “Miya?” Reki winced when his throat protested the action.
Suddenly the depression was gone and he heard sobs that were somehow happy and sad at the same time. “Y-You’re awake?” Miya’s voice cracked as he spoke and that broke Reki’s heart.
Finally Reki managed to muster up the energy to open his eyes and immediately regretted it. “Bright,” he mumbled, barely audible.
He heard some shuffling and it got a lot darker in the room, allowing Reki to open his eyes. What he saw broke his heart even more. Miya was standing next to the bed, very sloppily dressed with his eyes all red and puffy, which matched his very messy hair.
There was someone sitting in the corner of the room sitting in a chair. Reki definitely didn’t recognize them. They weren’t really saying anything, just watching.
He managed to lift his arms in a way that invited Miya to hug him. Miya did what was basically the careful version of flinging himself onto Reki, who gently patted his head.
“Remember what we said,” the person said. “You need to be careful and keep quiet. I’m going to call the doctor to let him know that you woke up. You can call me Hina,” she said, looking at Reki.
“Just warning you now, she’s really annoying,” Miya whispered, earning a very quiet laugh. “Do you need anything?” He asked, leaning back from Reki and going to turn the light back on so he could see.
“Water.”
“There’s some right here, open your mouth.” As much as Reki wanted to do it himself, he really needed water and wasn’t capable of fighting it right that moment, so he opened his mouth.
There was what tasted like a paper cup put gently up against his lips, slowly being tilted until water flowed into his mouth. The water made his throat feel so much better.
“He’s awake. His friend is much calmer now, just gave him some water,” Hina said on the phone, speaking for a few more seconds before hanging up.
Miya pulled a chair up and rested his arms and head on the bed next to Reki. He had still been lightly crying up until this point, where his crying ceased and his breathing slowed. It seemed like he fell asleep after about a minute.
Reki closed his eyes as well, reopening them when he heard a knock and the door opened. “Hello Mr. Kyan, may I speak with you?”
“How is my family doing?” Reki’s whole family had gone with him for support and because nobody could watch the twins. “Please tell me they’re okay.”
“I’m sorry to tell you, but you were the only survivor from your car. We’ll need to find somewhere for you to stay until we find out who your mother entrusted you to should anything happen to you.”
“O-Oh. Okay.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m sorry to move on so quickly but we couldn’t find any emergency contacts for you, so we called the most recent person in your contact list.”
“I have someone I can call, if I can have a phone.”
“Actually your phone is right here,” the doctor said as he reached over next to Reki. “Feel free to call whoever you think is able to help you at this moment,” the doctor handed Reki’s phone to him.
“Is it okay if I call a friend? All I have for my family is who I was with,” Reki struggled to keep a brave face as he spoke.
“Of course, as I said, anyone who can help you in this situation.”
Reki opened his phone with shaky hands, slowly opening the phone app and dialing Joe’s number. “ Hey, what’s wrong Reki? It’s late. ”
Reki couldn’t keep it together any longer, he started hyperventilating and crying, barely managing to speak through his sobs. “I n-need you to come to the h-hospital.”
“ What happened Kiddo? ” Joe asked softly. Reki could hear shuffling. “ I’m sorry for this being so sudden, but I need everybody to get out so that I can close, an emergency came up, ” Joe spoke presumably to his customers.
“Sorry, I-I didn’t know you were at work… I just didn’t w-want to have to- to call Cherry. Miya’s he-here with me.” More shuffling could be heard on the other end.
“ It’s okay, can you pass the phone to Miya? ” Miya had woken up from the crying but hadn’t said anything yet, having noticed the redhead on the phone.
“Yeah… Miya, Joe wants to t-talk to you,” Reki said, handing the phone to Miya.
“Hi Joe,” you could hear in Miya’s voice that his throat was scratchy.
“ Are the two of you okay? I’ll be there soon .”
“I’m fine. Reki… not so much. The doctor is here, but I think that you should be told in person. Reki you’re going to make yourself sick…. You aren’t well enough to be throwing up…” Miya had more concern in his voice than Joe had ever heard from him.
Reki was still trying to regain himself and stop crying when Miya handed his phone back after a few minutes of him talking with Joe, telling him where he was.
“He’s almost here,” Miya said to the doctor, who was still standing there. “Is there any way we can order food?”
“Yes, let me go get you a menu while we wait for your friend. Hina, please come with me, seeing as he is awake we can station you somewhere else.”
“Yes sir.” The pair walked out of the room, giving the two some privacy.
“You can cry if you need to, I mean look at me, I’ve been crying my eyes out,” Reki offered, knowing that Miya tended to hold in his emotions.
“I think I’m all cried out,” he half-heartedly joked. “How long do you think it’ll take him? He said he was about ten minutes away, but knowing him he’s going way faster.”
“I’d say maybe five, it’s been a minute or so since you hung up.”
“Here’s the menu, the food may take a while to be delivered, but I would say that our food is pretty good,” the doctor walked back into the room, handing Miya a sheet of paper. “Just circle what you want and we’ll order it for you.”
The two looked at the menu, circling a few things that they wanted to have over the next few minutes. They chose to stay silent so as to not get all worked up again.
Reki’s guess was correct. They knew Joe was there when the doctor came into the room. “Someone named Kojiro Nanjo is here to see you, that’s your friend, correct?”
“Yup, please send him in along with anyone else with him.”
“Let me ask if there’s anybody else,” the doctor put a phone up to his ear. “He said to send him in, is there anybody else there? Alright, send him in too,” the doctor said before hanging up the phone. “Another boy by the name of Langa Hasegawa is here.”
After about a minute or so they heard people practically running down the hall. The door flew open and Reki saw a blur of blue followed by a slightly slower blur of green.
Reki blinked and Langa and Joe were at his side across from Miya. “What happened?” Langa’s voice broke as he looked at Reki with concern filling his eyes. He hated that.
“I- They- My family…” Reki looked like he was about to throw up and his voice cracked. The doctor just grabbed one of the nearby sick bags, handing it to Reki just in case.
“Mr. Nanjo, may I speak to you outside?” The doctor asked. “You can call me Dr. Yamamoto.”
“Yes, of course,” all the gentleness and concern in Joe’s expression turned to seriousness. “I’ll be right back, you two try to keep Reki calm.”
Langa nodded seriously. Reki knew how worried Langa must be, what with having lost his father already. Langa sat down as Dr. Yamamoto and Joe left the room to talk in the hallway.
Reki threw up into the bag until he couldn’t anymore and was dry-heaving. “That bad?” Langa asked quietly. All Reki could do was nod.
“I’m not sure of everything, all I know is that there was some kind of accident on the highway,” Miya told Langa, wanting to leave telling him to Reki, who was still dry-heaving at that moment.
Langa’s eyes got wide with realization. “They… didn’t make it… did they…?” Reki started crying again in response, causing Langa’s expression to turn grim and drop.
Reki shook his head slowly. Side to side. His face was starting to feel numb. It felt weird. He didn’t like it. Not at all. “He just woke up not that long ago. We were ordering some food when you guys got here.”
Langa walked over next to Reki and put one of his arms around him, trying to provide some sort of comfort. He wasn’t good at this. But he could try his best and hope that it was enough.
Miya laid his head down on the bed again, resting his eyes. “Should we call Cherry and Shadow?” He asked quietly.
“Maybe, what do you think, Reki? They’re going to find out eventually, but when is up to you. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”
Reki managed to calm himself enough to respond. “Pretty sure Cherry’s on a business trip…. And I think Shadow had a date tonight or something…”
“Then they can come at their earliest convenience. They won’t mind, if anything Cherry would be upset you didn’t tell him sooner. Shadow wouldn’t mind as much if you choose to wait to tell him,” Langa said, trying to keep his cool.
“Then let’s call Cherry,” Reki was going to reach to grab his phone when Langa gently pushed him back onto the bed and pulled out his own phone.