Under The Stars. It's Infinite [Reki x Langa]

Chapter Twenty-Three | You're Doing Well

Light burned my face, and I let my eyes open slowly. There was talking, buzzing sounds and other various noises I couldn't quite make out. The first thing I actually saw in front of me, was a man to my right, then a tray of needles, tools, and things that could be used for torture. Where was I? Gasping, I threw myself forwards and ran my hands around my body. I was bare chested and had a bunch of funny wires attached to me. "W-What's going on?" My throat was dry, and I was suddenly hit with a wave of pain. The last thing I could remember, was Nozomi trying to get me out of that place. "N-Nozomi-?" I turned to the man beside me, and he put his hands up. "Calm down, it's alright. I'm a doctor."

My heart sped up and I looked around once more. This place did seem more sterile than where I was being held previously. I suppose that explained the wires. "Can I have your name and birthdate please?" I did as I was told, answering every question about myself accurately. I wanted to ask my own questions, like if I was brought here by someone specific, if anyone was waiting for me to get better. But I couldn't bring myself to ask anything of the sort, so I readjusted the questions to topics at hand. "Uhm, how long will I be here for?"

"You've already been here for a few days, but you've healed quick enough to be allowed to leave this afternoon." I felt my chest tighten, if that was the case, I would be allowed to go home and see if Langa was alright. "Another young boy was here early yesterday to see if you had woken up, but had his own injuries to look after, so we sent him away." My ears twitched at that statement. Surely that had to be him. It was slim, but who else would it have been. It's not like anyone else from school knew about what happened. "Ah- I-Is he still here?"

"Him and two other adults. They're in his own room, I can call them over here if you like." The doctor wrote a few things down and handed me a cup of something. "Please drink this. Antibiotics." I let the liquid wash down into my stomach, the taste was something I didn't like, but not many medicines were something that were enjoyable, so I wasn't about to complain. "No need." I heard a voice from the door and leant past the doctor.

Joe was standing in the door frame, his arms crossed against his chest casually, "Good to see you're awake." He stepped into the room finally, letting the doctor leave with his clipboard. His seat was quickly taken by my visitor, and I felt a little uncomfortable in the room with him. I hadn't even known he was here before a minute ago. "You feeling any better?"

"Is Langa okay?" I was going to explode if I didn't find out what happened to Langa. I know I heard his voice before I collapsed, but I didn't want to hear that I was just hallucinating. I needed to know Langa was alive and safe and okay. "Yes, he's fine. Gave me a scare on that bridge though." Joe ran his hands through his hair and let out a tired sigh, I could do the same if I wasn't on edge. "Lucky I happened to be around and saw it happen. Sorry I couldn't get to you at the same time Reki."

Tears were drawn for a second, and I tried to hold them back. Langa was alive. He was safe, and well, and I was back here. Someone was looking for me. Someone cared. "T-Thanks..." I crossed my legs on the bed and folded my hands in my lap. "Are you okay?" Joe pointed to my back, wrapped in bandages, and stitched together again. Being bare chested in front of someone else right now wasn't something I felt comfortable with, but it wasn't like I had much of a choice. "Yeah, I guess they did pretty well to gash me that bad." I laughed nervously and then winced in pain. It still hurt a little, but only where the skin stretched.

"I'm proud of you, for sticking that nasty stuff out. I know I would have struggled a lot." Joe ducked his head and scratched his neck softly. After all this, he was probably wishing he was supporting me from an injury at S. "You are a real hero, Reki. You saved Adam's life back there." My stomach churned at the thought of Adam, the man who gave me this wound, trying to save me. That's right... his name was Ainoske... That meant that I did know who it was, I was just unaware of his real name. "Mm." It was all that came out of my mouth at the time. My brain was giving me flashbacks of what happened. I could remember up to breaking something. That was it though. The sound of something shattering along the cemented floor kept replaying in my head. I couldn't remember what happened after that, but I was shocked enough to remember that Adam was there to get me.

"Anyway, I'll let you rest. I've gotta go check on Kaoru anyway, before he tries to break out of the hospital again." A chuckle came from the muscle man in front of me, and I nodded. "Yeah, okay." I couldn't remember any of them showing up. Maybe I was drugged or something? I could ask the doctor, but it would be a bit pointless now that it had been a few days. "I'll tell him you said hi?"

"Mm." I gave another dry response, shuffling on the bed for a moment before scratching my head. The air was cold on my skin, and I really wanted to cover up in blankets or a jumper. Something similar would do. "Get some rest then." Joe left the room and shut the door softly behind him. Leaving me alone in the room. The light was left on, and there was a card sitting beside the bed I hadn't noticed until just now. When I picked it up and looked inside, it was more like a diary than a card. It was clearly Langas' handwriting as well, the way it was wobbly written and there were English words included. I could make out most of his words, but there were a few words that I didn't understand, but that was to be expected when he was switching from Japanese to English writing constantly.

There was a click on the other side of the door, and I bobbed my head up from the paper. The door creaked open slowly, and I saw a head sneak through. Blue hair fell past the door and pale skin waved to me. "Langa?"

"Reki-! Tu vas bien! Je suis tellement contente que tu ailles bien!" "Reki-! You're okay! I'm so glad you're doing well!" Langa rushed into the room and wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a warm embrace. I hadn't thought about his hugs since I woke up, but all those warm and happy feelings came back so quickly. I was in a lot of pain from the way he was holding me, but I didn't care at that moment, this was more important. "I thought you were dead." I nuzzled my face into the side of Langas' neck, and he retracted from me. "I thought the same thing about you." He sat down next to me on the bed and smiled to me softly. My chest tightened just looking at him. All those feelings I had buried deep down were coming back, and I was only getting closer to tears from it. "I'm...hic... I'm really glad you're okay." I felt my lip tremble and squeezed Langas' hand. "I was really worried."