fic: meet me in the middle of the road

[vvitchsdesire]

ao3 || wattpad || ffnet

Title: meet me in the middle of the road
Fandom: Ensemble Stars
Rating: G
Wordcount: 413
Summary: The window marked the passage of time, but barely. There were sunny days, cloudy days, snowy days, and the eternal, unrepentant presence of night, washed in the tones of late night soap operas.

And also Wataru.

The window marked the passage of time, but barely. There were sunny days, cloudy days, snowy days, and the eternal, unrepentant presence of night, washed in the tones of late night soap operas.

And also Wataru. Wataru is kind of like a puppy, or another precious thing. He's the son of a nurse, perhaps, or maybe he's just sneaking in, but it doesn't matter, does it? The boy will sit at his bed, ignoring the nurse's glare, and then show card trick after card trick. Most of them fail. Wataru smiles through them nonetheless, and it's amusing enough to make him forget the pain for a few seconds.

He knows his time with Wataru is short: the boy's leg cast, full of colorful doodles, is proof that, unlike Eichi, his time there will be brief. Every day - every cycle of day to night to day to night is a step closer to Wataru getting out of that hospital. He knows there's no chance he'll see Wataru again - what are the odds -, so Eichi makes the best of his time, even on the days his tracheostomy tube wouldn't let him speak, smiling and going along the tricks of Wataru's little magician tricks.

"I'll miss you." Eichi scraps, one day, when the leg cast has disappeared from Wataru's leg. The boy looks at him, the shuffle of cards stopping. "Your leg. It's healed now, right?"

Wataru cocks his head.

"Yeah, but I can't visit you?"

A blink. Innocent.

"I don't think the nurses will let you." Eichi started, slow. Everything was slow in this body, and he hated it. "I mean, sure . You're sneaking here because we're in the same pediatric station, but once you're gone, you're gone. No way to come back - this is the intensive treatment unit, after all."

Wataru's face fell for a mere moment. He set his cards aside, and surely would've grabbed Eichi's hand, were it not covered by wires of all sorts - so, instead, he rests it on the tips of Eichi's fingers. His hand is warm, even though there's not much surface for contact.

"We can meet in high school." Wataru suggested, and Eichi nodded.

"Sure." If I'm alive for that, he thought, dryly. Wataru smiles, lights up the tiny world of Eichi.

---

"Eichi?" Asks a voice, familiar/unfamiliar. Eichi turns, and there stands Wataru, older, playing idly with a stack of cards, like he doesn't realize what he's doing. Eichi smiles.

Guess I was alive, he thinks.