More Than Just A Friend

Sunlight was the first thing he noticed when he woke up.

It was warm, like the woolly blanket he had at his apartment on his face, except the air was clear so obviously it wasn't that. It also was bright — warm and bright, both enough to wake Yukito up out of whatever last bit of knocked-out sleep he was in.
When he opened his eyes, Yukito saw an apartment balcony nearby. Some birds were chirping — it was probably around 8 or so in the morning.

'Where am I...?'  Yukito thought, staring up at the ceiling. 'That's not my ceiling... it's the wrong texture... or is it?'
He shifted his position slightly, but then noticed a few things:
He had an ice pack on his forehead, was on a couch with a blanket over him, and last but most certainly not least...

His whole body hurt like hell.

If it had been just his arms or just his back, that would've been no problem. The reason it was a problem was because everything hurt equally.
His back was stiff, and it kinda hurt when he tried to move too much. His arms just didn't wanna move. And his head was throbbing.
'This sucks,' Yukito thought with a quiet groan.

It also smelled vaguely like rubbing alcohol but that didn't really matter.

To add to this, just as Yukito was trying to sit up, Ishigami of all people walked out of the hall beside the couch. 

His hair was a mess.
He had dark bags under his eyes.
Cuts on his face that looked like they had sorta healed on their own.
In one word, he looked: terrible.

But the fact that it was Ishigami woke whatever of Yukito was still out up completely.

"ISHIGAMI???" Yukito practically screeched, letting the ice pack fall to his lap utterly forgotten. "WHAT ARE YOU—" and then tried to sit up too fast. "OWWWW OW OW OW FUCKー"
"YUKITO—" Ishigami screamed ー hoarsely, if that's possible ー mid-bolt.

***

Yukito was now sitting, propped up by a couple pillows. As it turns out, he had been knocked out while in that ominous black van from the day before and had only woken up properly just now, so Ishigami ended up telling him the whole deal ー him following the van, finding that building, fighting the gang, and ultimately deciding to take Yukito to his apartment.

Ishigami left out the fact that he may have held onto Yukito for a few seconds before running away from there. He decided it was unnecessary and would only make the situation more awkward.

Yukito fidgeted with the edge of the blanket. "So uh... I guess you didn't sleep that well after all that?"
Ishigami, currently on his laptop, stopped typing for a moment before continuing. "... I didn't sleep at all," he said quietly as he typed. "At least I don't remember sleeping."
"Why?" Yukito asked.
"Iー I wanted to make sure... thatー that that gang got caught," Ishigami said, still looking down at the screen. He evidently was very tired, since he never stuttered usually. And he also always made eye contact when speaking to people.
Yukito nodded quietly and looked away. Seeing Ishigami like this was different. And difficult.

***

The two of them sat in silence for a while.
Very awkward and deafening silence.
The kind that makes you hold your breath for too long.

Yukito cleared his throat quietly. "... Ishi?"
Ishigami jerked his head up and practically slammed his laptop closed. "What?"
"Um," Yukito fidgeted with the edge of the blanket again. "Why didn't you... like, take me to the hospital?"
Ishigami relaxed a bit. "It uh... it would've taken too long."
"In an ambulance?"
Ishigami looked down and said nothing for a bit.
"I... I wasn'tー I didn't think of that at the time," Ishigami finally said.
Yukito nodded. "OK."

He didn't mean to sound rude, he just didn't know what else to say, and didn't want to make Ishigami feel any worse than he probably already did.

A little while later, at around 3P.M., Yukito, who was now lying down again, shifted on the couch. He was starting to get hungry ー he hadn't been before, but there was no denying it now.
Ishigami noticed when he shifted. "Are you OK?" he asked. Whenever he asked anything right now, his eyes would get wide, like he was still scared of something happening.
"I'm uh," Yukito started, "I'm just a bit hungry."
"For anything specific or...?"
"Ehh no, anything is OK as long as it's not spicy."

Ishigami nodded and went over to the kitchen.
Yukito, still lying down, heard the sounds of pots and pans moving and smelled rice coming from Ishigami's kitchen.
'I wonder what he could be making,' Yukito thought, shifting under the blanket again. 'I kinda hope it's not just plain rice, hehe.'
"Here," Ishigami said, propping up some pillows so Yukito could sit up and giving him a plate of rice with frozen vegetables.
"Thanks," Yukito said, taking the food.
Yukito took a bite, then beamed like a kid. "This is amazing!!" he said with his mouth full.
"It's nothing special," Ishigami said, brushing it off.
"Uhhh, nuh uh," Yukito said, looking up at Ishigami like he just spoke in some dead language. "Accept my compliment, it tastes amazing to me."

Ishigami looked down and didn't say anything; instead he just walked back to the other couch he had been sitting on previously.
As he did Yukito watched him, and he noticed he felt a weird tight feeling ー maybe worry, he thought ー in his chest and throat.

Later, Yukito tried to reach for the glass of water on the coffee table, butー
"Owowowowowowowowowowowー"
ーthat was, evidently, a bad idea.
"Hey be careful," Ishigami said, handing the glass to Yukito.
"Thanks," Yukito said softly as he took the glass.
As Ishigami was handing the glass to Yukito however, their hands accidentally brushed for a second, and Ishigami didn't fully give Yukito the glass right away either.
Then he pulled his hand away and went back to his laptop.
'What,' Yukito thought as he sipped his water, 'is going on here?? I try to go home, get kidnapped, Ishi saves me, I wake up in his apartment and he's being all stoic and quietー well, he's already those things BUT STILL, HE'S MORE STOIC RIGHT NOWー'

***

Yukito had been sitting up for a bit now, and Ishigami wasn't typing anymore.
Yukito stared intensely at Ishigami's face, specifically the cuts that had been there ー he assumed ー since last night.
'Looking at them makes me uncomfortable,' Yukito thought to himself, 'but I can't bring myself to just ignore them either...'

"... Ishi." Yukito said.
Ishigami kept looking at his laptop. "Hm?" He replied semi-absentmindedly.

Yukito fidgeted with the blanket for a second before speaking. 
"Your face," he said, gesturing to where the cuts on Ishigami's face where.
Ishigami stopped typing and lifted his hand to his face. "Oh," he said. "I'm fine."
Yukito furrowed his brow in worried annoyance. "Well obviously not, you look like shit!!"

Then he felt bad. Maybe the way he said it was too harsh; thing is, it was true. Ishigami did  look like shit and that worried Yukito. A lot.
Ishigami sighed and leaned more towards his laptop. "Alright, I'll be fine; happy now?"
Yukito didn't know how to respond to that, so he stayed quiet.

This was quite the awkward day, wasn't it?

***

By the time it was 6P.M., Yukito and Ishigami were both quite tired. It had been a long two days, after all.
"I think you should probably go to sleep now," Ishigami said as he stood up and stretched. "One second."
He went back to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water and a few pills ー for sleeping.
"Here," he said, handing them to Yukito. "Take these."
"Thanks," Yukito said before swallowing the two small pills and finishing the water. He had been thirsty the whole day despite drinking water regularly.

The pills started to work quickly and soon Yukito was almost asleep.

"Hey Ishi?" Yukito said sleepily, shifting onto his side.
"Yes?" Ishigami answered, turning from the doorway of the hall to face him.

"Thanks for yesterday."

Ishigami stopped and looked down. Yes, it was true that he had saved Yukito, but he still felt guilty for having gotten there "too late" or "just in time".

He always felt like he would never be anywhere in time.

"... anyone would've done it," Ishigami said quietly after a while. "It's justー it's just basic empathy."
"Well still," Yukito yawned, "thanks, Ishi..."
He was asleep.

Ishigami stood there for a bit longer, kinda wanting to say something. Just anything would've been fine. Maybe a "sorry I took so long to save you", maybe just "goodnight".

Instead, Ishigami quietly walked over to the couch and pulled the blanket up and gently patted Yukito's shoulder.

"... rest well, Yuki," he whispered before turning off the standing lamp and going to bed.

And he decided to do his best to sleep properly that night, too.

***

And just before Yukito fell asleep, he thought something...

'I think Ishi...

'... Might like me as more than just a friend.'