Always you

He's dead

After a few hours, we're finally allowed to check on Makki.

He looks paler than Kenma and his eyes are closed. He's hooked up to all these machines and pipes and wires.

He's been cleaned up so at least he isn't covered in blood now.

Mattsun's sitting in a chair next to him, his eyes red from crying and one of his hands grasping Makki's.

Aw.

"B-Boss!" He says when he notices us.

"Mattsun, you've known me for years. Please, just call me Iwaizumi." Oh jeez, he's not about to start crying again is he? If I see Mattsun cry, then I'll cry.

"Why won't he wake up?" Mattsun asks us.

"His body is probably just recovering from the surgery." Iwa says, patting Mattsun on the back.

"How do I get him to hurry up?" Mattsun asks, "He needs to hurry up soon before I start worrying that he won't."

"Studies show that the voice of a patient's mother, usually only if they have a good relationship, helps to wake a patient." Says Kiyoko from the corner of the room.

"Well, that's not an option." Iwa says.

All of a sudden, all eyes in the room turn to me. Oh hell no.

"I do not sound like Makki's mum!" I protest.

"Mm." Makki starts to mumble in his sleep.

"You sure about that?" Iwa says, trying not to laugh. Meanie.

Well, I gotta do what I gotta do. It is what it is.

I perch on the edge of the bed and start talking to Makki.

"Hey, Makki. Apparently the pitch of my voice is making you wake up so can you please just hurry up before Mattsun starts mimicking Bokuto's emo mode." I say. He starts to stir slightly. "Alright, Makki, if you can hear me, squeeze Mattsun's hand for me."

He does.

"Makki, if you're awake and just being a little bitch, open your eyes now." I tell him.

With a laugh, Makki opens his eyes.

"Hey guys." He says, weakly.

"Don't you 'hey guys' me, Hanamaki Takahiro. You nearly died!" I tell him.

"Pshht. Nearly." He scoffs.

"Makki?" Mattsun whispers. "You're okay? You're not going to d-d-d..."

"I'm fine, Issei. I feel like I got shot, but I'm fine."

Mattsun moves forward and kisses his boyfriend. Aww.

"Makki you were so brave." He says, before going back in and kissing him again. "You did good, baby."

I tug Iwa's sleeve and we leave the room, allowing Makki and Mattsun to have their moment.

We walk back upstairs but instead of going to our room, Iwa leads me to the top floor which looks like an FBI bullpen.

"Tooru, you said this morning that the people who attacked you called you Grand King. So they knew your identity. We're going to run some checks to make sure that they haven't just found it on some website. Can you write up a list of everyone who knows?" Iwa says. I nod and let him pull me over to his desk.

I sit down with some paper and a pen and starting writing the list.

Iwa-chan, Sugawara, Daichi, Makki, Mattsun, Jones, everyone who used me like a lab rat at the BOS. That's pretty much it.

I hand the list to Iwa and he pales.

"Tooru," He says, struggling to keep the fear out of his voice. "We finished the checks. There's nothing online. It must've been from someone who knows. Is there anyone on that list who might have wanted to have you killed?"

I look down at the list and try to think. I never had an issue with anyone at the BOS. Ever.

I wrack my brain until I remember something that happened a few weeks before I was attacked.

"Is the financial support we give you not enough? We made you, King, don't you forget it."

"I know. I haven't forgotten. I'm just... I'm really behind on my rent and they're threatening to evict me. I work another job as well for extra money but I-"

"You listen to me, boy. We give you enough money. Don't you dare ask for more again. You understand?"

"Y-Yes, Sir."

Holy shit.

"Jones." I say, looking up at Iwaizumi. "It's Jones. He got pissed because I asked for money and my body was getting weaker. It's him. He's the one who... oh Iwa."

Iwa pulls me into his arms and rubs my back.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." He says.

"Iwa... he indirectly hurt Makki too." I realise. "He nearly killed Makki. He's dead to me."

I look up into Iwa's eyes.

"I want to kill him myself." I say.

"Of course, babe. I'll train you myself." He agrees.

Iwa turns back to face the room.

"Alright everyone, I need everything you've got on Mr Jones who runs the BOS. Everything. Address, past addresses, family, friends, birthplace, any dirt you can dig up. Anything even remotely illegal, I want to know." He orders. Frantic typing ensues and Iwa reacges for the phone.

"Who are you ringing now?" I ask.

"Karasuno. Sugawara can help train you because you have similar body types and if we're trying to take down Jones, Daichi might want to know." He says.

"Ah, hey Daichi. I need to talk to you about something. We figured out who really ordered the attack on Tooru. It's Jones. Yeah. I know. We're trying to see if we get him convicted for anything else first, then we can just bring it up in court. Yeah? Cool. Thank you so much, man. Oh, yeah. Could Koushi maybe help with training Tooru? Yeah. He said he wants to kill Jones. Yeah, we know. Oh, not tomorrow, we have a meeting. Day after? Yeah that's good. Okay, see you then. Thank you again."

The phone call ends and Iwa flops down into his desk chair.

I go to sit in a chair opposite him but he shakes his head and beckons to me so I end up curling up sideways in his lap like usual.

"Your training with Sugawara starts the day after tomorrow and Daichi's going to do everything he can to help us take Jones to court. We'll be fine. You'll be fine. As soon as we get something, he's going down."