rice cake | kuroshou

006: return

Daishou stared at the entrance doors to his school. His hands were slightly trembling as he held onto his backpack straps.

He's not ready for this.

He's not ready to be swamped with sympathy from people who didn't even know he existed. He's not ready for teachers to give him some kind of special treatment and in result of that, have kids call him a 'teacher's pet' just because he was hit by some fucking idiot. He didn't ask for that.

High school is a brutal place and he had to come back to this two days after being in a horrible accident. And, if he's being honest, he'd rather go back to that than have to face what's beyond those doors.

He took a shaky breath and walked up the stairs to the doors, grabbing the handle and hesitating to pull it open. His hand was shaking again and his breaths felt like they wouldn't come out. He's frozen, frozen in a state of complete fear.

What's gonna happen when he opens these doors?

Daishou's whole body was trembling at this point. He's never been this scared before, not even when he first started high school. This shit is a whole new level of fear.

"Hey, fuck are you just standing there for?" someone asked, Daishou flinching harshly and quickly turning around, his breathing rampant. The person slightly tilted their head with a raised eyebrow. "You good?" they asked.

"I- I-" Daishou stuttered between heavy breaths, not being able to form, or even comprehend, full sentences. "Kuroo.. help.." Daishou managed, his breathing becoming out of control.

"Fuck," Kuroo cursed, rushing towards Daishou and putting a hand behind his head. He took one of Daishou's hands and put it over the pulse on his neck and leaned his forehead on his. "Look at me, okay? Focus on me and my pulse."

What the fuck are you doing? Why are you helping him?

Shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch, I don't care what you have to say right now. He needs me.

Tch, whatever.

Daishou's breathing didn't seem to be getting any calmer and Kuroo started to panic a little himself. He let go of Daishou and quickly shimmied off his backpack, taking Daishou's off as well. He resumed their position, this time, pressed a little closer. "Focus. On. Me," Kuroo said, staring into Daishou's eyes. "Breathe with me." He started to take slow, organized breaths, not once taking his eyes from Daishou's.

Daishou struggled to match up with Kuroo's breaths. His own were just too out of order. "I ca- not-" Daishou strained. Kuroo stepped even closer, so close that they could feel each other's opposing heartbeats.

"You got this. You can do it, I know you can. Follow me," he encouraged. Daishou stared up into his eyes, not noticing his breathing starting to sync with Kuroo's. Kuroo smiled softly, a genuine smile. "There you go. Keep going, you're doing great."

Daishou took a few more shaky breaths before he completely calmed down, finally breaking away from Kuroo's helpful eyes to close his own for a moment. Once he regained a hold of reality, he looked back up into Kuroo's eyes. "Uh.. thank you.. for that. Can't believe you still remember that."

Kuroo chuckled. "You always scared me to death when you would freak out like that. Of course I had to remember it."

Daishou chuckled as well. "I remember always panicking over the littlest things."

"We were eight, you had a reason to." They both laughed and then stared at each other. Kuroo never bothered to take the time, but looking at Daishou up close like this... he noticed that his skin looked so smooth. His hand felt soft and warm against his neck, and he never wanted to lose this feeling. Kuroo gulped. "Um.. can I..?" he hesitated. Daishou nodded and a feeling of relief swept over Kuroo as they both slowly leaned in.