Work Text:
since hajime had known tooru, he had always believed him to be fragile. with each day, the amount of band aids that covered tooru's pale skin grew exponetially. the boy could not help himself from barreling into trouble. hajime had the sounds of little tooru's wails burned into his memory, all because of some cuts and bruises.
they grew older, and tooru stilled bruised regularly, although there was less adventure involved. hajime would be honest and say he was responsible for a fair few, but he knew lots of them were tooru's own fault.
knees hit the gym floor to save the ball, fingers jammed after a bad set, blood vessels popped from an unparalleled serve.
but tooru was...great. extraordinary, even. he played harder than anyone, more than hajime himself. he couldn't keep up...and he couldn't keep tooru from his success.
tooru pushed and pushed and pushed, and he was amazing because of it. hajime didn't think he didn't have limits after all. but hajime knew.
he still bruised. still faltered. still hurt.
not that he would show the world. hajime only saw a glimpse.
long sleeves. shirts pulled down. that damn brace.
hajime wanted to stop tooru from hurting himself. he wanted him to surpass his potential. he wanted to do something.
he didn't bring himself to do anything.