from august to december

chapter thirteen

the sun wasn't quite rising yet, the night was probably the darkest right now, as they say.

"does he smoke?" the doctor filled out the questions on his clipboard while raising his eyebrow, giving his already wrinkly forehead even more wrinkles.

normally, shino would always do the talking to other people outside of the group, because the others were too shy or socially awkward, or both.

but this time, he was just stiffly sitting in his chair, staring at a random spot and his trembling hand held a paper cup filled with sparkling water.

even though he wasn't thirsty at all.

so after clearing his throat, eden began speaking.

"he used to, i don't know if he still does."

they were sitting in front of the emergency room, where yuri was currently being taken care of.

he wasn't dead.
and somehow that made eden feel at ease.

the hallways of the hospital were long, green flooring and white walls, with an orange line in the middle.

it wasn't too straight, slightly curved as it made its way through the walls of the hallway.

with a long sigh, the old doctor scribbled something onto the paper, disappearing into the room yuri was in without another word.

all these two could do now was wait for answers.

eden gazed at his friend, a worried look on his usually so graceful and porcelain face with no flaw to be found.

a few wrinkles were forming around his mouth and on his forehead, he was tired and the eyebags were starting to show.

so were shino's, but he leaned his heavy head against the cold sterile wall of the hospital and closed his eyes.
because both of them were vulnerable at this second, eden almost asked him about his feelings.

he wanted to ask him what was going through his mind, how he was doing.

but then, he decided not to, he just shifted on the green chair attached to the walls and ruffled his hair.

when actually, park really would need a comforting hug right now, someone telling him it would be fine.

time was moving slowly, both didn't really speak to each other, from time to time nurses were speeding down the hallways, doctors following.

but from yuri's room they hadn't heard anything.

it was with the disgusting silence that eden decided to finally say something.

"why did you just stand there like that?" he asked, and he was really wondering why, because shino was usually so collected and knew how to keep his cool in situations like these.

the blond's eyes were still closed and he didn't move, the blue paper cup in his hand was still filled with the water, but his hand was not trembling anymore.

he was soundly asleep.
in the middle of the hospital hallway, while waiting for their friend.

or maybe he was just really good at acting and was just not in the mood to speak.

which didn't stop eden.

"you don't usually do that, your brain never just dysfunctions like that," he said further and placed his elbows on his knees, resting his chin on his knuckles.

he moved his head to look at the large clock at the end of the hallway and could just read the time.

4:33