He found an unoccupied room at the end of the hall and stumbled into it, silently closing the door behind him to prevent attracting attention. He moved a few steps backwards and was now standing in the middle of the dark room. His breath came out in small pants.

Shit. Why did he do that?

He let out a small groan and grabbed his face. They certainly were going to find him and scold him for causing trouble. On his first day here. For the second time already.

His parents are gonna be so mad...

"What are you doing here?"

Koutarou let out a small shriek of shock at the sudden voice and clasped at his mouth with one hand to prevent more noises from coming out, as a night lamp behind was turned on. The silver haired boy slowly turned around and squinted at the sudden source of light, before he could finally make out a person sitting upwards in one of the beds he beforehand assumed empty.

He blinked at them. It was a boy who seemed about his own age, had sleepy eyes and dark, messy hair that curled up at the tips. Even in that small source of light, his skin looked quite pale. All in all he was really, really pretty.

The boy only blinked back at him questioningly and Koutarou realized that he hadn't answered his question yet.

"Uuh" he started awkwardly. "I'm definitely not hiding from getting an injection or something. I'm totally not a coward. Or anything. Haha..."

He lifted his hand and scratched his neck before looking down in embarrassment. The other boy said nothing, but as Koutarou looked up again, he could see him covering his mouth while turning away from him. The next thing he knew was that his heart skipped a beat as a muffled snorting sound, close to something like a very quiet giggle maybe, reached his ears. Koutarou only stared at him until the other one had calmed down again and a smile formed on his lips.

"I'm Bokuto by the way. Bokuto Koutarou!" he finally managed to introduce himself after he had recovered from that short moment of blankness caused by the other one's small laugh.

"Akaashi Keiji" the other one said with a soft voice. Koutarou could feel his whole body heating up upon the small smile which still graced the boy's lips.

"That's a really pretty name" he could hear himself say before he even thought properly about the words.

When the other one only shrugged at the weird compliment, Koutarou dared moving closer and sat on the edge of the boy's bed.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his gaze wandering over the pile of personal belongings spread across the nightstand.

It seemed like he has been spending an awful amount of time in this bed already. There were a lot of books, pens and notebooks. Also a vase with pretty looking flowers in it, but no "Get well soon" cards he somehow expected to be there. It didn't seem like that boy was getting a lot of visitors.

"I'm waiting for a new heart."

Koutarou tore his gaze away from the flowers and looked at the other with wide eyes.

"A heart..?" he repeated disbelievingly. "What's wrong with yours?" he asked when the other one had just nodded.

"It's too weak." The faint smile on the boy's lips finally disappeared completely with those words.

Koutarou could feel his own heart sinking in his chest. Now that he watched him more closely, that boy looked really strained. And so fragile. Someone that beautiful definitely shouldn't be supposed to look like that. Koutarou had the urge to wrap his arms around him and tell him everything was gonna be okay...

"Can't... can't it be fixed somehow?" he eventually asked, but the other one just shook his head.

"I was already born with it... They tried to fix it with medication, but it didn't help. So I need a new one before this one here gives up."

"I see..." he breathed out quietly. "And... what happens if it gives up before you get a new one?"

"I will die" the other boy answered matter-of-factly, as if he was already used to that question.

Koutarou only looked at him with wide eyes, not believing what he just heard.

"That's... that's really sad..." was all he managed out at the moment.

Another shrug.

"It's okay. As I just said, I was already born with that heart failure. So I kind of got used to it."

"It's still unfair..." Koutarou stated, this time a little bit louder.

He felt so sorry for that boy.

A short moment of silence followed then, before the other one finally asked what the reason for his own stay was.

"I'm sure they wouldn't keep you overnight just because of a broken arm."

He pointed at the plaster around his arm and Koutarou sighed in discontent.

"Suspected cancer."

He watched as the dark hair boy lowered his gaze a bit, before looking up again through hooded eyes. "That's horrible. I'm sorry for you."

Koutarou tried hard to put on a small, genuine smile.

"Don't be. Your reason is a lot worse. After all, it's only suspected. The doctors said it might be innocuous anyways so..."

He tried to play it off, considering that he still had it way better than the boy sitting opposite of him.

"I hope for you it is."

There it was again. That precious but barely noticeable smile.

Big enough to make Koutarou's heart beat speeding up in his chest.

A lame "Thank you" was all he managed as response before a long silence ensued again.

When Koutarou noticed the sleepy look on the other boy's face he remembered that he had probably wakened him up by storming into his room earlier. He stretched his arms above his head and faked a small yawn.

"Ah, guess it's time to go bed then."

"Yeah..." The other one lowered his gaze again and started to fidget with the sheets between his fingers. Koutarou blinked at him, somehow expecting him to say more but when he didn't, he finally stood up and stretched another time.

"Well... Good luck about that thing with your heart then, I guess..." he began and put on an awkward smile. "See ya, then..."

He was almost out of the door already, when the other one finally called out his name.

"Bokuto-san...?"

"Yeah?" he responded immediately without wasting even a second to turn around again. Very smooth, Koutarou. Really.

"Are you..." the boy began but hesitated, obviously looking for the right words. "Will you come and visit me tomorrow again?"

A bright smirk graced Koutarou's features promptly.

"Right after breakfast."

Keiji replied with the biggest smile Koutarou has seen so far of him; and when he went back to his own room, ignoring the scolding glares of the nurses who have been looking for him for over half an hour, he couldn't stop grinning.

Maybe his stay here wouldn't be as bad as he first expected.

In the end, Koutarou did get his blood taken from a nurse in the middle of the night when he was too sleepy to protest. It didn't hurt as much as he expected and the next morning, the doctor brought good news.

"It's innocuous" he explained and Koutarou's mother leaned in to give him as kiss on the forehead, as if it was his merit that the tumor wasn't malignant.

Koutarou narrowed his eyes in suspicion though. The doctor didn't seemed to happy about it though and before Koutarou even finished that thought, the man had already continued.

"Yet I've talked to my colleagues and we all agreed to let it being removed by surgery nevertheless. Since the tumor is located near one of your lymph nodes, complications could happen in the future if it continues growing."

Both his parents nodded after the doctor explained some more circumstances, they promptly agreed with him. Koutarou only groaned.

"It's okay, darling" she tried her best to soothe his distress. "You've heard the doctor, didn't you? It's just a small OP, right?" She turned to the doctor who nodded, then gave her son an encouraging smile. It didn't make him feel much better at all.

"Listen to your mother, Koutarou. You need to take a rest at the moment anyways because of your arm. And as soon as everything is healed, you can go back to playing your beloved volleyball."

The silver haired boy blinked at his father, he had a point there. The man smiled at him in triumph and Koutarou pouted before crossing his arms.

"Fine..." he muttered in discontent. He wasn't a fan of the thought of having to stay at this place much longer, not to mention the surgery. But when it meant he could continue playing Volleyball without having to worry about his health too much, it was okay he guessed.