And Suddenly, We Were Strangers ( IwaOi )

and suddenly, we were strangers

Oikawa's very fortunate to have an attractive visitor.

It's the third day since he's woken up from what the doctors tell him had been a coma. His name is Oikawa Tooru and he's a twenty-five year old who had been involved in a car accident. The vehicle had wrapped itself around a pole and, as Oikawa would hear over and over again, he's lucky to be alive. His entire body aches; he hardly remembers the two days after he comes out of his coma and the nurses laugh that even when he was going in and out, he was still charming. He's not sure if every patient has so many nurses checking in on him this often, but he won't complain. He does get a good number of visitors, but even with all these people coming and going, there's only one person who's consistently there. Oikawa doesn't even think to question it; he's just come to accept it.

He's usually the first person Oikawa sees when he wakes and last person before he sleeps. He's asked over and over again why he doesn't go home, insisted that sleeping in a chair can't be comfortable, but the visitor shakes his head and says it's fine. Oikawa remembers that when he'd been in and out the first few days, the visitor had been holding his hand. But ever since he woke up and stayed conscious like a normal person, the hand-holding's stopped. He doesn't ask why. He doesn't bring it up.

Mind still hazy, Oikawa smiles and thanks his number one visitor as he accepts the offered water. The coldness is a relief at the moment; it seems like his body's forgotten how to regulate temperature because one moment he's hot, the next he's freezing. But his visitor picks up on it quickly and either piles on blankets or takes them away, at one point fanning him with a pamphlet. Oikawa had laughed, really laughed, and that was the first time his visitor smiled.

They didn't talk much. Oikawa remembered being asked a flurry of questions. The visitor had seemed upset; Oikawa was nervous at the inqusition, but just as he seemed to have been about to yell, two of his other more frequent visitors came in and dragged him out. The taller one with dark hair stayed behind and asked if he was okay. Oikawa had nodded but watched through the window as the shorter, lighter haired one yelled at Visitor #1, whose head was bowed and fists clenched.

When he came back and Visitors #2 and #3 left, he more or less stopped speaking, except to answer Oikawa's questions curtly and politely or ask if he was all right.

He apologized for his outburst and Oikawa shook it off, though was a bit wary, unsure why he was attacking him with questions. They were all do you know who I am?, do you know who you are?, do you know where you are?, do you remember what we were talking about?, how do you not remember?!

Oikawa's still mulling over these questions later, slowly coming to terms with the fact that his memory is a blank slate and he's got no idea who he is, aside from his name. He doesn't remember anything. It's all empty and no matter how hard he tries, none of his memories are there. Visitor #1 comes back from a coffee run one time to find Oikawa shaking, barely managing to hold himself together as his hands pull sharply at his hair and he drops the two coffees to hold him so tightly Oikawa almost can't breathe, but that's exactly what he needed:

Something so tangible and so real it almost hurt.

Visitor #1 stops going on coffee runs and one of the nurses takes over that duty. Oikawa doesn't exactly mind. It's when he's alone that he starts thinking about how he doesn't know anything because when Visitor #1 is there, Oikawa can't stop stealing glances.

He's good looking. He's extremely good looking, with his tanned skin and strong jawline, faint freckles that Oikawa sees when he leans in close to fix his pillows. He's got an intense gaze and it's like his face is set in a permanent scowl, but it relaxes if he's looking at or speaking to Oikawa. And the rare moments when he smiles, his entire expression softens and Oikawa's heart beats just a little faster.