Work Text:
He had to be hearing things; That was HiMERU's first thought when the new voice in Kaname's room reached his ears. His second thought was one of denial - that surely, he was mistaken. It must be a new nurse or doctor who had an uncanny but entirely coincidental familiar voice. It was the only explanation. There was no way-!
"-should see him in practice, Kaname-chan!"
HiMERU froze in the doorway - blood turned to ice in his veins, the pit of his stomach dropped out, breath caught in his throat. Kaname was awake...or rather, his eyes were open, his gaze glassed over and listless, fixed unseeingly on the opposite wall...and, horrifyingly, Rinne was at his bedside. His back to HiMERU, he sat straddling the wooden chair he'd pulled around backwards, his folded arms crossed atop the backrest - and he was chatting with Kaname as casually as he would with one of his unit mates, if slightly gentler and a bit more enunciated.
"'Course, he's stubborn as ever, but...he actually put into practice some of the adjustments I told you about last time, so he's a little more relaxed doing that one-two step, and his balance is getting better. You know what I'm talking about, right? Here, I'll show you..."
If he hadn't been so baffled, HiMERU would have prickled with anger when Rinne reached out to the bedside table, picking up one of the handful of HiMERU plushies there - specifically the prototype of the first version made with straight rather than sitting legs. Naturally, Kaname's eyes were drawn to it the moment it entered his field of vision; Those plushies were, at present, the only inanimate objects he consistently paid attention to...and now, HiMERU had a better idea as to why.
"You know, it goes like..."
As if Rinne demonstrating the specific dance move with the plushie wasn't enough to break HiMERU's brain, was...?
Was Kaname...smiling?
"...something like that, see? And in the song, it's like..."
...and now, Rinne was using the plushie to demonstrate the choreography for the specific verse in which that specific dance move was used...while wordlessly singing along.
Kaname's little smile quickly grew into a full-on grin - and then, he snickered.
Part of HiMERU wanted to be jealous that Rinne, of all people, had gotten Kaname to laugh...but he was too dumbfounded, in shock from the unlikely scene unfolding before him.
"Yeah, yeah, it looks goofy when you do it like this," Rinne drawled good-naturedly, letting Kaname take the plushie from his hands, "but trust me - compared to the way MERUMERU was doing it before, it looks much more natural. It's the kind of thing you don't really get until you feel it for yourself, when someone physically walks you through it..."
Kaname didn't answer, but that was normal; He'd been completely nonverbal since the incident, and whether this was due to brain damage, mental trauma, or a bit of both was anyone's guess. Nevertheless, Rinne seemed satisfied by Kaname's response - which was just him burying his face in the plushie's head as he hugged it tight. Rinne didn't try to prompt him for a reply like some of the nurses would, and he didn't try to take the plushie away in order to get his attention, which one of the nurses had done once or twice with loud, chaotic consequences.
Right now, though, Kaname was happy, and Rinne was just...letting him be - not treating him like an invalid or an idiot or a lunatic, but like a person. Like family.
HiMERU didn't have words for how it all made him feel.
"Yeah...your nii-san's working real hard for you, Kaname-chan," Rinne said at a length, resting his head in his arms. His smile was audible, his tone soft and...indecipherable. "I don't know what he's planning, but...well, MERUMERU can tell us when he's ready. Or not; That's fine, too. Maybe he's told you, and someday, if you want, you can tell us for him..."
HiMERU didn't know what to feel.
"...and if you can talk, maybe you can sing, and if you can sing...?"
Kaname snickered again, but it was clear that his world now consisted of only himself and the plushie in his arms.
With a chuckle of his own, Rinne stood up and, as quietly as possible, moved the chair around and back to its position prior to his visit.
"I said it before, and I'll say it again: If you ever wanna give being an idol another go, Crazy:B would be happy to have you."
HiMERU couldn't move, couldn't speak. He stood rooted on the spot as Rinne shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to leave. He wasn't startled by HiMERU's presence, and he didn't say a word to him; It was as if he'd known he was there the whole time. Rinne just looked HiMERU in the eye as he passed...
...and then, it was just Kaname snickering in bed and his living likeness frozen in the doorway.