fear. || { bnha }

sixteen.

a/n: i'm really eh about this chapter tbh :/
but thank you all so much for the 2k+ reads and 300+ (almost 400) votes! <3

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Valui woke up in a blindingly white room. She opened her eyes only to shut them again against the light. If the brightness of the lights after being holed up in a dark building for five days wasn't enough to give her a headache, the incessant beeping from somewhere behind her was. She was stiff and uncomfortable, but her pain had stopped — most of it, at least. Her wrist was wrapped up in a bandage and was mobile again; the dull ache in her knees had gone away. The hunger pangs still tore through her stomach, though, as did the scratchiness of her dry throat.

She tried to sit up, but a number of tubes stopped her.

Hospital. That's where I am.

Valui looked sleepily around the room after her eyes adjusted to the harsh light. There were IV drips in both of her arms, and on one of her fingers, there was some kind of wiring that led up to the vitals monitor behind her. She became aware of a small weight on the side of her leg, and the fact that whatever was pressing on her leg was also making the bed dip down.

Hitoshi was sleeping, his arms folded on the bed and his head resting on his arms with his face toward her. He had scooted a chair close to the side of the bed, which made Valui assume he had been waiting there and then ended up falling asleep. He looked peaceful; it brought a small smile to the girl's face. Her eyes trailed over his features as if she was afraid of forgetting how he looked — which was impossible, as she had already committed everything about him to memory.

Her gaze landed eventually on his hair. Even as he slept, it still seemed to go wild — yet Valui liked it like that. She wouldn't want it any other way. Without thinking, her arm closest to Hitoshi's head reached out so her fingers could weave themselves gently into his hair.

Soft.

Purple eyes fluttered open sleepily; and when they met Valui's, her face turned bright red. She started to remove her hand from his hair — not as quickly as she would have liked, but she didn't want to risk hurting him "S-sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Hitoshi grabbed her wrist to stop her hand from moving, which also effectively stopped her apologizing. He looked at her in such a way through half lidded eyes that it made her heart skip a beat. "Keep going."

And that made her face turned redder.

"O-okay." Valui shifted slightly and started moving her hand in a petting motion; running her fingers loosely through his hair, her fingertips gently brushing against his head. She watched Hitoshi close his eyes again; his breathing softened soon after, and he was back asleep. It made her smile despite the hunger pangs that had started to get stronger.

He looked so...cute.

She suddenly wanted to be close to him; to hug him; to kiss him.

The door to her room opened and a nurse walked in. Valui lifted her head up, craning it back to watch as the nurse realized she was awake. "Oh, good! You're awake." She smiled at Valui. "Are you hungry?"

"I am."

The nurse nodded in response, then held up her finger to tell Valui to wait. "Give me a minute and I'll bring you what you're allowed for lunch." When the blonde nodded, she left the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

She felt Hitoshi slowly lift his head up beneath her hand. Valui looked to him, gently pulling her fingers from his hair as he sat up fully. He stretched and yawned, then smiled softly — albeit a bit sleepily — at her. Hitoshi reached out and ran his hand through her bangs, tucking them behind her ear — it was then that Valui realized she had lost her hair pins at some point.