Author’s Note: Inspired by theme #3 at the 52flavours LJ community, "Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead".

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When he wakes up early and the shade is up and the bright morning sunlight comes in the window, it reflects on some piece of equipment in the corner of the room and forms four bright rings on the ceiling. It’s not the sort of thing Yukimura would have given much thought to in the past because he would be too busy doing other things to stare at the ceiling, but there’s very little to do in the hospital. Yukimura is not accustomed to inactivity, so he quickly grows tired of books and finds himself laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling because he simply doesn’t know what else to do.

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the rings, just four concentric circles glowing a pale yellow against the harsh white of a hospital ceiling under fluorescent lights. They’re merely a point of focus as his mind wanders, casting about for an interesting topic for a while before it gives up and lets him doze until breakfast, briefly escaping the boredom.

Sanada comes to visit one morning before school, knowing that Yukimura is an early riser. It’s not visiting hours, but the nurse who catches him is nearing the end of her shift, and she likes Sanada, so she lets him in. He sits at the end of he bed and looks around the room, and when he says, “You have a nice view” he’s not looking out the window, but instead at the ceiling and the bright rings that Yukimura had momentarily forgotten.

Yukimura thinks, watching him, that Sanada would have borne this better than him, the tedium of hospital life with its long hours and endless tests. He is better at tennis, but Sanada is better at staying still. He would be more patient as the doctors poked and prodded and said he would just have to wait and see, and maybe he would be more confident that everything would be all right.

It almost feels like he’s wishing this experience on his friend, so Yukimura stops that train of thought and makes conversation until Sanada has to leave for school. By the time he’s alone again, the sun has shifted and the rings are distorted, barely visible. He stares at the ceiling anyway and wonders if he’s a terrible person for wishing that he could be the one to come visit and then walk, perfectly healthy, out the door.