I've been wanting to write a little something about these two boys for a while now and I can tell you it feels so good to finally have this written and out. While I originally intended to have this all as a oneshot, I decided last night to split this story up into two parts. Part two should hopefully be out soon, maybe sometime in January but things have a funny way of not working out the way I want them to, so we'll see.

Enjoy!

Shion was a twenty one year old, university student studying to become a doctor. While he wasn't attending lectures at university or studying, he worked at a local cafe part time to earn himself a bit of money. Now what he earned for working part time wasn't exactly enough for him to live and maintain a household on his own, but it was fine because he didn't live on his own. He lived with his roommate Nezumi in an apartment that wasn't very big, but it was at least big enough for the two of them to live in comfortably. Since Nezumi didn't go to university like Shion did and worked full time at a theatre, he provided more of an income than Shion did and the money that Nezumi brought home was usually enough to cover their expenses on its own.
One more fact about Shion and Nezumi was that they weren't just roommates; they were actually a couple and had been since they graduated from high school.
Shion had never really thought about himself being gay before, but that was before he met Nezumi. When Shion met Nezumi in his third year of high school, he had just lost his parents and had come to this side of the city to live with his godfather. It had been love at first sight for Shion and he had found himself inescapably drawn to the other boy. Everything about Nezumi entranced Shion, from the way that he spoke so smoothly and sophisticatedly to his smile and the way his silvery grey eyes shone like the stars whenever he laughed and the way he acted. If someone asked Shion to describe what it was like to watch Nezumi up on stage performing, then Shion only had one word to use to describe it: breathtaking.
He had seen Nezumi act a handful of times since they met in high school and each time, he found new ways to astound Shion with just how talented he was. Nezumi oozed passion, when he was acting; he immersed himself in his role so deeply that it was like he had been replaced by an entirely different person. And when he sang, Shion was always left short of breath. When Nezumi would sing, his voice was rich and gentle. There was an enchanting beauty in Nezumi's voice when he sung and more often than not, it would bring a tear to people's eye. Even Shion's.
Nezumi was a very important part of Shion's life; he cared for him deeply, perhaps just as much as he did for his mum and his best friend, Safu (but in a totally different way of course).

Sometimes, during the early hours of the morning, Shion would lay awake in bed and just watch Nezumi sleep. He'd drink in every detail of Nezumi's features, the peaceful look on his face as he slept, the way his lips were parted ever so slightly and how strands of beautiful, long dark hair fell into his face, contrasting with paleness of his skin colour. As he watched over his boyfriend's peaceful slumber, Shion would smile unconsciously and he would feel nothing but a giant ball of affection swell in his chest and it was a comforting feeling. It comforted Shion to know that he cared for Nezumi.

However, Shion wouldn't understand the true extent of his feelings for Nezumi until a certain incident.

It was a Tuesday afternoon and Shion was working at the cafe. It hadn't been a particularly busy day, probably because of the cold and rainy weather, which prompted most people to stay indoors. Shion only had one more hour to go before he was finished for the day and could head home and right now he was busy tending to customer's orders when one of the people he worked with called him over to the backroom. Shion finished taking down orders and then went to meet his colleague in the backroom.

"What is it?" Shion asked the curly-haired, freckle-faced boy, waiting for him in the backroom with the phone in his hand.

"It's for you." He said holding the phone out to him. "They say it's urgent."

Shion frowned and took the phone receiver from the boy's hand and pressed it against his ear.

"Hello?"

"Shion, hey it's me."

"Inukashi?"

Inukashi was an old friend of Nezumi's that Shion had only met the previous year. Shion liked Inukashi, he was a stand-offish type of person but once you got to know him, he wasn't so bad.

"Yeah, look... Shion I need to tell you something."

Inukashi sounded a bit hesitant to Shion and it troubled him slightly. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Inukashi sighed from the other side of the line. "Nezumi's in the hospital."

Shion bolted through the hospital doors, sopping wet from the rain pouring down outside. He ran straight to the waiting area, where Inukashi had said to meet him.

Nezumi had been involved in a car accident. That was what Inukashi had told him over the phone at the cafe. He had been crossing the road on his way home from the theatre (since Nezumi didn't own a car he had to walk) when someone lost control of their car on the slippery roads and ran straight into him. Inukashi hadn't told Shion anything else just that Nezumi had sustained an apparent head injury which lead to him being unconscious when they bought him in.

Shion felt as though he was in some kind of trance as he raced through the crowded hospital hallways, pushing past people and ignoring some of their indignant grunts at having been shoved past. He only had one thing on his mind. Nezumi.

He had to get to Nezumi.

God, why did this have to happen to Nezumi?

As soon as Shion made it into the emergency waiting room, the first thing he did was scour the room for the familiar face of Inukashi. He found him almost immediately and he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried when he saw the dark-skinned male standing near the emergency room doors, speaking with an older man in a white coat. When Shion approached them, Inukashi turned to face him.

"Shion." He said as a greeting.

"So what's happening?" Shion asked. "How's Nezumi?"

"I was just saying that you're friend is relatively okay." The doctor explained. "He has two broken fingers and a fractured wrist and he required stitches on his right shoulder. His concussion isn't too serious, we'll be sure to keep an eye on him over the night just to be safe and apart from some bruising and cuts, he's okay for the most part."

Shion felt as though he could finally breathe again. Nezumi was okay. Apart from a few injuries he was okay. Relief flooded through Shion like a tidal wave and he felt as though his legs might give out any time soon and he would fall to the floor.

"So can we see him?" Shion managed to ask, now suddenly desperate to see his boyfriend and make sure he was fine for himself.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, he's awake now so you can go and see him; he should be able to be discharged from here tomorrow if all things go smoothly."

Shion and Inukashi thanked the doctor who nodded in return and lead them through the winding hallways until they reached Nezumi's room. The door was opened halfway and the doctor knocked on the door.

A tired and hoarse voice said "Come in." From inside the room and Shion felt his heart stutter when he recognised it as Nezumi's voice. He didn't sound right and Shion felt his worry increase.

The doctor pushed the door open and allowed Shion and Inukashi to walk in first. Shion's eyes immediately landed on Nezumi's still figure, partially sitting up in the hospital bed and Shion's lips parted and his eyes widened as he took in Nezumi's condition.

"Holy crap, Nezumi, you look like shit." Inukashi stated bluntly stepping closer to where his friend lay in bed.

Shion wouldn't say it aloud, but Inukashi was right. Nezumi did look like shit. His right arm was in a cast and his two middled fingers were taped together. There was a bandage wrapped around his head and a large dark bruise under his left eye. His bottom lip had been split open and there was a nasty stitched up cut across the bridge of his nose. Shion also noticed traces of dried blood near his nose.

Nezumi finally turned his head towards Shion, who hadn't moved from his position at the door.

"Shion." That was all Nezumi had to say for the tears to well up in Shion's eyes and for him to race to Nezumi's bedside and breakdown into a sobbing mess.

Just as the doctor had said, Nezumi was fit to leave the hospital the next day. Shion came to pick him up in the afternoon and had walked into the hospital room to find a nurse helping Nezumi get his shirt on since that was a bit of a difficult task with a fractured wrist and two broken fingers. Shion had to look away when he saw the great big, multi-coloured bruise that stretched from Nezumi's stomach to the side of his ribs. It was also the first time Shion got to see the stitched up gash on Nezumi's shoulder. It was puffy and red sickening to look at. They gave Nezumi some prescription medicine to take for his head and for the broken fingers and fractured wrist and explained to Shion how to change the bandaging on his fingers and the cast around his arm.

"Ah, feels good to finally be out of that stuffy hospital room." Nezumi said as they walked out the hospital doors and into the cold winter air.

Shion didn't say anything. He just stood there and stared at Nezumi. Looking at all the cuts and bruises that marred his handsome face and Shion felt a lump form in his throat.

Nezumi turned around to face Shion, there was a slight smile on his face (or as much of a smile as he could manage with the cut on his bottom lip) but the smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown.
"Shion, are you okay?"
Shion was shaken out of his little daze and he managed to force a half smile onto his face.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Let's get to the car; will you be able to walk down the steps?"
Nezumi stood quiet for a moment as if he didn't quite believe Shion's claims of being fine but then, to Shion's relief, he let it go. "I'll be fine." Nezumi said and walked with a slight limp past Shion and started on making his way down the steps. Shion stayed close to Nezumi's side as they walked down the stairs, watching him anxiously and keeping his hands out at the ready in case Nezumi was to fall. It took a little while, but they managed to make it down the steps without an accident and they crossed the road to where Shion had his car parked. Unlocking the doors, Shion put the plastic bag containing Nezumi's medicine and bandages in the back seat. When he saw Nezumi open the passenger seat at the front of the car Shion straightened up and went to him to offer some assistance but Nezumi just waved him off. "I can manage."

Shion watched Nezumi anxiously as he slowly lowered himself onto the car seat so as not to agitate his sore and stiff body. When he finally managed to get into the seat, Nezumi let out a long winded groan and closed his eyes with his uninjured arm wrapped around his abdomen where his bruises were.
"Are you okay?" Shion asked worriedly.
Nezumi opened his eyes to peer up at Shion. "I'm fine it was just a bit harder than I thought. Let's just go home now."
Nezumi seemed a bit tired so Shion just nodded and walked around to the driver's side, got in and started the car.
The car ride home was a quiet affair, neither one of them spoke but Shion did notice from the corner of his eye that Nezumi kept glancing at him every now and then.
"What is it?" Shion asked when he caught Nezumi looking at him for the tenth time.

"You look tired." Was all Nezumi said.

"How can you tell?" Shion asked not taking his eyes off the road.

"There are bags under your eyes and you looked pretty spacey before. Did you get much sleep last night?"

Shion sighed. "What do you think, Nezumi?" He had gotten very little sleep that night after returning home from the hospital. But that was to be expected after all who finds out that their partner had just been involved in an accident that could have easily costed them their life, rushed to the hospital to find them looking like they had been bludgeoned and then go home afterwards and then just fall asleep like nothing had happened? Shion had tossed and turned restlessly for a good portion of the night, thoughts of his injured boyfriend were too constant in his mind for him to get any sleep. He had only managed to get a wink of sleep just as it was starting to get light out.

Nezumi titled his head and gave him a quizzical look. "I think my suspicions are right because otherwise you wouldn't be so crabby."

"...I'm sorry."

Nezumi just waved his good hand dismissively. "It's okay, I understand yesterday must have been pretty tough on you and I'm sorry about that."

"No, Nezumi there is no need for you to apologize." Shion protested. "What happened yesterday wasn't your fault."

The corners of Nezumi's mouth twitched up in a small half smile. "Yeah, I know that but I still can't help but feel a bit guilty for making you cry like that." He said referring to how Shion had sobbed at his bedside for a good half an hour when he entered Nezumi's hospital room yesterday. "You must have been worried."

Shion nodded solemnly. "Yeah... I was."

"Mm. But I'm fine now, so you don't have to worry anymore."

Shion nodded again. "Yeah." But there was no truth behind what Shion said.

The phone was constantly ringing at their apartment for the rest of the afternoon. Nezumi was being bombarded by phone calls from well-wishers. Inukashi was one of the first to ring him up, followed by Shion's mother, Karan and Safu and the rest came from Nezumi's manager at the theatre, Rikiga (an old family friend of Shion's) and some other people who worked with Nezumi at the theatre. Both Shion and Nezumi were relieved when the phone calls finally stopped; Nezumi because he was tired and just wanted to relax and Shion because he knew that Nezumi was tired and he wanted him to rest.

Nezumi was resting in their bed while Shion prepared them their dinner in the kitchen. Nezumi had just taken some of his medication for the fracture in his wrist and his fingers and since the prescribed dosage was quite a heavy one, it had made Nezumi extremely sleepy so Shion had left Nezumi to sleep while he made dinner.

Shion was too tired to cook a big meal, so he simply prepared them some pasta. It was quick and it was simple and he knew Nezumi would like it.
When the pasta was ready, Shion placed Nezumi's bowl on a tray and carried it down the hallway and into their bedroom. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and slowly peeked inside, he saw Nezumi exactly where he had left him. Lying under the covers, on his side with his left arm resting over the blankets. When Nezumi made no sign of stirring, Shion quietly entered the room. He tiptoed over to the bedside table on Nezumi's side of the bed and gently placed the tray on the wooden surface.
The sound of Nezumi's soft and deep breathing was the only sound that could be heard in the otherwise silent room and that sound comforted Shion in ways that just couldn't be explained. Shion was very much a romantic and while that usually earned him some playful teasing from some of his friends and even Nezumi himself, Shion couldn't deny that he enjoyed the sappy and cheesy parts of being in a relationship, listening to Nezumi breathe was just one of those things. He always enjoyed it when they would cuddle on the couch while watching a movie and Shion would feel the rise and fall of his boyfriend's chest with each breath he took and he would just feel his heart swell with affection. But now when Shion gazed down at Nezumi's face, darkened and swollen with bruises and the deep red cut on his lip and listened to his even breathing, Shion could only think about how lucky he was that Nezumi was still here, alive and breathing.

Nezumi could have died. He could have died yesterday. Shion could have lost him forever. What would he have done then? What would he have done if Nezumi had been taken away from him?

"You know, it's kind of hard to sleep when you're just hovering over me like that." Nezumi spoke up suddenly breaking Shion out of his thoughts.

The dark-haired man turned his head slightly to look at Shion over his shoulder, his eyes were half-lidded and his shoulder-length black hair was slightly tussled from the pillow. He gave Shion a sleepy half-smile that made Shion's chest constrict painfully, but he forced a smile onto his face anyway.
"Sorry," Shion said forcing a smile onto his face as he sat down on the bed beside Nezumi. "Did I wake you up?"
"No, I was already awake."
"Oh."
Nezumi managed to roll himself onto his back, with only little difficulty. A grimace did pass over his face as he did so and even though it was only a slight grimace and was there for only a second it still put Shion on edge. Nezumi extended his neck to peer at the dinner tray on the bedside table.
"Ah, you made pasta." Nezumi sighed tiredly. "I like pasta."
Shion frowned as he inspected Nezumi's face. "Are you tired, Nezumi?" Amidst the bruises and scrapes, he could tell his boyfriend was still quite tired.
"Mm." Nezumi nodded. "Just a little. Probably because I just woke up and the medication is still taking effect."
Shion nodded. "But you still need to eat something. It's no good to keep your stomach empty." Shion stood up from the bed. "Can you sit up?"

Nezumi nodded and tried to push himself up into a sitting position. When he seemed to be having a tough time of it, Shion stepped in and helped Nezumi to sit up as well as straighten up his pillow for Nezumi to lean back on. Shion then picked up the food tray and placed it on Nezumi's lap.

"Just try and eat as much of it as you can." Shion instructed. "Otherwise you'll just get hungry and you may feel even worse."

"Yes, mother." Nezumi replied teasingly.

"Is there anything else I can get you? Do you want something to drink? A glass of water? Another pillow? Do you want me to turn on the T.V? How's your wrist? Is it sore? I don't think you can take the medication for another two hours, but maybe I can give you something else if you really nee..."

"Shion." Nezumi said cutting off his boyfriend's rambling. "I'm fine, I don't need anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, so just go off and do your own thing for now and if I need anything, I'll get it myself."

"Oh no," Shion said strictly with a firm expression on his face, "you're not leaving this bed for the rest of the evening, you need to rest."

Nezumi sighed and rolled his eyes, but gave into Shion's instructions anyway. "Fine, if I need something I'll call you."

Shion nodded pleased with that answer. "Good."

Shion was just about to leave the room when Nezumi called out his name.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I just want to say, thank you for doing all of this, I mean going to all the trouble to look after me."

"Well why wouldn't I? I'm your boyfriend after all."

Nezumi smiled at him and Shion felt his heart swell with a mix of emotions that made him feel like he might burst. Shion cleared his throat. "I-I'll leave you to eat your dinner then."

Shion closed the door behind him as he left the bedroom and walked down the hallway. He made his way into the living room and sat himself down on the couch with his elbows propped on his knees and his hands clasped tightly together. His head was a mess with thoughts and feelings at the moment. And they all centred around one person: Nezumi. Shion wasn't exactly quite sure what or how he was feeling at the moment. But as he sat there, staring at the carpeted floor at his feet, he came to one conclusion; if Shion were to try and picture his life without Nezumi, he couldn't picture anything. There was nothing. No matter how hard he tried, he could not imagine anything. If Nezumi wasn't in his life then there was nothing. Nezumi was just such an important part of Shion's life that if something were to happen to him, then Shion could not envision a life for himself. It may sound a little over dramatic, but that was truly how Shion felt.

When he thought about the accident, when he imagined Nezumi being struck by that car and then lying on the cold hard ground, injured and bloody and in pain, Shion felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut and he felt his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. When he thought about the many painful looking cuts and bruises that marred Nezumi's body and thought about how much pain they must cause him, he felt a lump rise up in his throat that nearly choked him. He just couldn't stand the thought of Nezumi suffering like this, he wished that Nezumi didn't have to go through this, he wished that he could take Nezumi's pain onto himself.

When had he started to love Nezumi so much?

Shion always knew that he was in love with Nezumi but it seemed that he never really understood the depth of his feelings until now.

Reviews are appreciated! :)