Disclaimer: I think it would traumatise poor Akaya if I owned PoT. Good thing I don't, hmm?

Rating: PG-13 for language

Warnings: Language, shounen-ai, angst, fluff

Summary: When your boyfriend is hit by a car, it takes a Trickster to put things in perspective for you. ;) MaruiHara

Author's notes: Another Rikkai drabblething. You don't have to have read the ones that come before this, but it might help a bit. The drabblething list goes:

Times of Stress

Passing the Time

How to ask out Marui Bunta

Four Days Later

October Ice

Because I Love You

Evil

Further Nonsense

Dear Diary

Kind of… the same

100 Word Challenges

Driver in a Hurry, Child in a Coma

Ahh, the list grows ever longer… -manic grin-

What is this? An angsty, non-humorous Rikkai drabblething:o Don't kill me 6-6;;

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The atmosphere was sombre, tense. Marui had spent five minutes in it, then had started yelling in a temper and stormed off. Probably to the bathroom to have a good cry, or something.

Yukimura could see the point of Marui's angry words. "Stop behaving like he's already fucking dead!" their resident tensai had screamed. "Do you want to fucking jinx him?! He's gonna be fine, so just cheer up already!!"

It would have been far more effective if it wasn't so obvious that Marui didn't believe his own words.

Yukimura let out a quiet sigh, eyes never leaving the door ahead of them. He thought he'd seen the last of hospitals for at least a good few years to come. Looked like he was wrong.

A near-hysterical Kirihara Sumiko had phoned Marui's mobile phone in the middle of tennis practice. Sanada had been understandably annoyed when the phone had gone off, but as the Regulars watched the blood drain from Marui's face, annoyance was forgotten in favour of concern.

"Bunta? What's happened?"

"… Akaya... he's in the hospital, he…"

"Bunta?"

"Marui? Oi! Snap out of it. Why's the bratling in hospital?"

"He… got hit by a car. Emergency care. I… I gotta go…"

"Marui? Hey, wait!"

In the end, they'd all come to the hospital together. Yukimura had asked Sanada to stay behind to wrap up the practice, which the fukubuchou did reluctantly, promising to come to the hospital as soon as he could.

They'd been here for over an hour. When they'd first arrived Marui had demanded to see him, but the doctor had kindly but firmly refused. He'd told them that Kirihara-kun was currently in the middle of being operated on, and he'd let them know of the results as soon as it was over.

Akaya's mother, Sumiko-san, had engaged herself with phoning her ex-husband and then her lawyer as soon as the Regulars had arrived and she felt able to leave the waiting for the results to them.

The doctor – Nobuo-sensei - had said that Akaya had been crossing the road just as the traffic light had turned green. It normally would have been fine, but on this particular day at that particular time a car had hurtled around the corner past the lights and slammed straight into Akaya at over thirty-five miles an hour. He'd been sent flying into the side of a building; the doctor said it was fortunate he hadn't been sent further up the road where another car may have hit him.

"He'll be ok, though, right?" Marui had said, pale and frightened.

Nobuo-sensei said that Akaya had suffered numerous injuries. Against Yagyuu's calm advice, Marui had insisted that the doctor list them. He did so with misgivings.

The right side of his pelvis was all but crushed. Most of his ribs were broken, and one had punctured his right lung. His right leg was broken in three places. Both shoulders had been badly dislocated. Trauma to the head; his skull was fractured. There was massive internal bleeding.

Marui had become paler and paler as the list went on. He didn't struggle when Yukimura gently guided him to sit and wait outside the operating theatre.

Yukimura glanced at the clock to see if any more time had passed since he'd last checked it, a lifetime ago. But, no, barely a minute had gone by. A tiny, bittersweet smile quirked his lips. Now he knew how the others had felt when they were waiting for the results of his own surgery. Except, of course, there had been very minimal chances of him not surviving.

All the silent Regulars started in shock when Niou abruptly stood up and stretched. "I'm going to get a drink," he announced casually, walking off with his hands in his pockets.

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As he'd thought.

Letting the door swing quietly shut behind him, Niou leant against the wall, something akin to pity on his face.

Marui was curled in a ball in the corner of the empty bathroom, sobbing into his forearms and gently rocking like a terrified child. Which, Niou knew, he was.

"I thought you said he's going to be fine," he remarked quietly.

Marui raised his head, startled, and glared furiously at Niou. "He is!" he insisted through his tears. "He's… he'll…" he broke off into renewed sobs.

"What if he isn't?" he whispered, voice so distorted it took Niou a few moments to work out what he'd said. "What if…"

Niou watched Marui cry. Then he walked over, sliding down the wall to sit next to him. "What if?" he prompted.

"Wh-what if he d-dies? What'll I do? Akaya…"

Niou stared grimly ahead at the cubicle doors. Then he turned his head to look at Marui. "What'll you do? What do you think you'll do? You'll attend the funereal. Cry a bit. A lot. Whine about your loss. Then move on."

Marui gaped at Niou, scrubbing away his tears as anger erupted. "I won't just move on!" he snarled. "I love him! How dare you? What the fuck is your problem?!"

"What, you're saying you'd jump off a cliff to be with him? How romantic."

Shocked and furious beyond words, Marui punched him across the jaw, sending his head slamming into the wall beside it. He yelled wordlessly, hitting over and over again, wanting to inflict as much pain and hurt on the mocking boy as he could. "Bastard!" he screamed with every few punches. "Bastard!!"

He hit until the anger drained, taking his energy with it. Exhausted, he rolled off Niou and curled back into a silent ball. Then he started in shock as he felt arms encircle him and pull him into a warm embrace.

"Feel better?" Niou asked, grinning lopsidedly.

Marui was completely lost for words. Slowly, realisation dawned. He took in the blood trickling down Niou's face, the already-forming bruises, the pupils dilating in pain.

"… Trickster," he whispered, trying to be angry, but unable to summon up the energy.

"That's me." Gently, Niou pulled Marui over so that he was supporting his weight.

"You shouldn't've done that," Marui muttered, voice muffled by fresh tears.

They were quickly brushed away and Niou said awkwardly, "Hey, save your tears for when you realise you won't be rid of the bratling so easily."

"Bastard," said Marui automatically. This time, there was no bite to the word at all.

They stayed like that in silence for a few minutes, the sounds of the hospital dimmed by the door. Niou couldn't help but suspect that Yukimura, or possible Yagyuu, was keeping a vigil outside the door so that they weren't interrupted, even though he knew that that wasn't the case and they were just incredibly lucky.

"Haru?"

"Yeah?"

"He won't die, will he?" The words were a childish plea.

Niou considered this in silence, then said, "Do you think he will?"

Marui shook his head fervently. Niou snorted and said, "Truthfully, Maru."

"… I don't know," Marui admitted reluctantly. "I… I think he might. I'm scared he might."

Niou nodded. "Then he'll be fine. Whenever you guess heads on a coin flip, it always comes up tails. And vice versa. So if you think Kiri-kun's gonna die, then there's no way in hell he will. You're not lucky enough."

"But you always guess coin flips right," Marui said, raising his head to look at Niou. "What do you think?"

Chuckling a little, Niou said, "Honestly? I have no doubt that he'll survive. I dunno if he'll be able to play tennis again, but there's no way he'll die."

Marui digested this in silence. Then he squeezed Niou in a tight hug. "Thanks, Haru. I… I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Yeah, well, it made you feel better, right? So never mind. But you owe me coffee for the next month."

"Definitely."

"Heh, can't believe you actually agreed to that, Maru."

"… Shut up."

Niou laughed.

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"So, so, so, can we see him?"

"For five minutes only," Nobuo-sensei warned.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, so can we see him?"

"Don't wake him up." Smiling, the doctor watched the pink-haired boy dash into the room, followed closely by the others.

Akaya was covered in bandages from head to foot. It might have been almost comical if he hadn't looked so young and fragile.

Marui looked as though he might start crying again, and he brushed Akaya's closed eyelids – practically the only bare skin showing – with a trembling hand.

"Seems even Death found him too annoying to take," Niou remarked flippantly. Sanada cuffed him on the head, but he was just going through the motions.

"Poor Akaya," Yukimura murmured, wanting to pet his favourite kouhai's hair but restraining himself. Bunta needed the contact for more than he did.

"He'll be fine now, though," Yanagi said. "We'll have to see how well the physical rehab etc works, of course, but Nobuo-sensei said that he won't have a problem walking within three weeks or so."

"Yeah."

Jackal couldn't restrain his curiosity any longer.

"Niou? What the hell happened to your face?"

"I was wondering that too, actually," Yanagi said. "Do tell."

"I fell," Niou said sarcastically, grinning when most of the Regulars rolled their eyes. "Nah, I was just…" he caught sight of Marui's guilty expression, "… picking a fight with some guy outside. When in doubt, knock them out. You know me."

"… I've yet to see anyone able to do you so much damage in a fight," Yagyuu said, arching an eyebrow.

"You should see the other guy," quipped the Trickster, scowling in annoyance when everyone looked blank. "Oh, come on! Never hearing of 'Day of the Triffids' is one thing, but that? Oh, for crying out loud…"

"Well, if you will insist on quoting random American things," Jackal muttered.

"Shh!" Marui interjected. "You'll wake him up."

They shushed.

"I have to go," Sanada said reluctantly. "I'm meeting Otousan at the airport. Tell… Tell Akaya I'll visit sometime tomorrow if I can."

"Will do," Yukimura nodded. "Safe journey."

"Watch out for cars," Niou said. He was disappointed when he got barely a glare.

The door swung open and Kirihara Sumiko-san entered, exclaiming when she saw the state of her only son. She hurried to his bedside and Yukimura tactfully shooed his team out, letting her have some time with Akaya.

"Come on," he said, ignoring Marui's protests. "Visiting time's over for non-relatives. We'll come again tomorrow."

They all parted ways at the hospital's front doors, each heading for a different destination, except for Niou and Marui who were both walking back towards the school to collect their tennis bags.

"You were right, Haru," Marui said quietly through a relieved smile.

"See? What did I tell you?"

Marui eyed his friend's face ruefully and said, "I think I broke your nose. And you missed a spot of blood on your cheek."

"Pft. You don't hit hard enough to break someone's nose," Niou snorted. "Hit hard enough to bloody hurt, though," he added with a mock-glare.

"Shut up, Haru."

They walked down the street, ignoring the strange looks they got from the people who passed at the painful-looking bruises on the taller boy's face and the drops of blood on the shorter one's shirt.

"Ne, Haru?"

"What?"

"What was it you called me in the bathroom? Maru?"

Niou grinned. "Yeah, I thought it was funny that the bratling calls you Maru-chan. 'Sides, Haru and Maru has a nice ring to it."

Marui scowled. "Maru and Haru, thank you very much."

"Why do you get to be first? Haru and Maru sounds better."

"Doesn't."

"Does."

"Doesn't."

The affectionate bickering continued for the rest of the walk. They parted ways finally with promises from Niou to visit Akaya with Marui first thing tomorrow.

Akaya himself woke up in the middle of the night, disoriented and in pain. But then his panicked hand came into contact with the scarf that Marui had left by his pillow, and he relaxed back into unconsciousness. Marui would be there. Everything would be alright.

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Sandy: If you can tell me where the title comes from, I'll let you request your own drabblething ;pp

Please review and tell me what you think?

I thought I'd use this drabblething to further explore Niou, since I'm sure you'll know my versions of Akaya and Marui inside out by now. Since he's such a wonderfully complex character and so hard to write, I thought I'd give it a shot. Let me know how I did? 6-6

See you on Sunday!