Actions

Work Header

when you hit disaster, the answer will be yours to find

Chapter 28: chronic

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

~Saturday, September 11th

Kaito’s back still hurts, which is great. He woke up in the middle of the night when a sharp pain hit him, and it was hard to go back to sleep after that. Now it’s hard to fully wake up. And by the time he does get out of bed he solidly decides that he feels awful, so he decided to knock back some painkillers before he does anything else today.

But then he showers, and the pain is still pretty persistent.

And he eats breakfast, and feeds his doves, and it starts to get worse.

By the time lunch rolls around and Aoko comes over, it’s hard to keep a straight face. Aoko sees through him right away. “Is something wrong?”

“My back hurts,” he admits. “Took some painkillers, but they aren’t helping as much as I hoped they would.” It’s taken some of the edge off, but that’s just not enough. “I’ll be okay, though.”

He is not okay.

He’s trying to focus on homework. Trying. Trying his best, but it’s hard to force himself to keep looking at the book in his lap. He adjusts himself on the couch, moving more into the corner so he can lean back against the arm rest. Aoko, on the opposite side, moves her feet without being asked to make room for Kaito putting his legs up on the couch.

A wave of fire rips from the base of his spine all the way up his back, and he can’t quite stop the strangled yelp that comes out.

Aoko immediately sits up straight, looking worried. “Kaito?”

“I’m-- fine.” The page under Kaito’s hand is threatening to tear because of how hard he’s pressing his balled fist into it. “Just hurts.” He uncurls his hand, though it’s still tense as he tries to smooth the page out.

“Maybe we should take a break...?”

[PAGE1]

[PAGE2]

[PAGE3]

[PAGE4]

[PAGE5]

Notes:

i feel weird not putting anything in the end notes because i for one ALWAYS look for end notes after i read a fic. feels like im missing out on commentary.

so commentary this time is that im actually pretty self conscious of the act 1+2 chapters now that im posting them, because i worry about being heavyhanded on the hurt part of the h/c. i dont usually care about angst levels, and breaking someones back is hardly as dark as i can go (and have already gone).

but because its about a real disability thats so often looked down on and seen as a life-ending thing that you'll never mentally recover from, and also has TERRIBLE media rep, i worry about portraying things too negatively before things get better.

which, rationally, i know is bullshit, considering that breaking your spine is a traumatic event that takes /time/ to recover from.

and also like this is a fic for a 30 some year old gag manga i dont really need to worry about my portrayal affecting much lmao. brains are stupid.