"Theo." Lips trembling, Keiko's voice already breaks around her name alone. Only the fear of hurting her best friend any worse than those woods already have keeps her from throwing herself at Theo completely. Instead, she's careful when she slides onto the hospital bed beside her, hands rising to frame her face, thumbs soft across cheeks that have grown far too hollow. Slowly, one lowers - down her neck, across her collarbone, until she can feel the strong thrum of a heartbeat beneath her palm.
She's here. She's alive.
No matter how much fear winds its way through every vein, Keiko can only hold back the sheer relief that follows closely behind it for so long. She barely lasts a minute longer before she's choking on a sob as she leans in closer, forehead pressed against Theo's and eyes screwing shut. A moment and an eternity passes before she can finally breathe steadily enough to open them once more, her entire vision instantly filled by those big baby blues she'd feared she'd never see again mere days ago. "I can't believe you're really here." // @expositicn + plotted starter!
