Private Finished A Loud Silence

Confirmed to be completely scratch-free aside from some temporary hearing loss, Lucas was checked out of the hospital after a few diagnostic. Tomomi and Riley, however, were not so lucky. Lucas had never seen that much blood in his life, which oddly enough was a high bar after the consensual murder of Beatrice. They used to be invincible, that at least their powers could keep them out of harm’s way. Seeing the flock of ambulances with their names written on them, Lucas realized otherwise.

There was room for only a few winks of sleep in the hospital lobby. It was the price he was willing to pay to keep an eye on both of them. Though he doubted neither could get into much trouble in the states they were in, Lucas was worried about other kinds of trouble. Surgery complications. Worsening conditions. Death.

Whenever Lucas tapped his fingers against the plastic armrest, he heard nothing. Footsteps, whispers, and the squeaking sounds that IVs made as they rolled across the tile floor were all lost to an overwhelming ringing noise. Still, the bustle of the hospital was more bearable than sitting around at home in silence. Quiet had never been so loud.

During visiting hours, Lucas checked on Tomomi first. Looking a little worse for wear, the blood not quite out of his winter jacket yet, he brought with him some notebook paper, a phone, and a straight face. Somehow smiling out of pity hit so much worse than crying did. It was the most hopeless expression of them all. It was when the doctors told him he had a year to live. Still — his lips perked up a little just seeing that Tomomi doing the bare minimum of just existing. Even though he had checked with the nurse a few minutes ago to see if it was alright to visit, he was unsure whether he’d interfere with her getting the rest she needed so he scribbled something down on paper back in the lobby. He got close enough for her to read the fairly large note, biting his lip down and averting his eyes sligthtly, Written in blue pen that read in a grimly chipper tone:

“ Hey Tomo! It it alright for me to come and visit now? You can give a thumbs up or down… unless you can’t do that. The nurse said it was alright, but I know how you feel about doctors. Is your hearing hecked? Mine is. I can: talk/yell/write just fine, but I’m not sure if you can right now. Anyways, let me know if you want me around, I can grab some stuff from the school if you want, it would be really sad for you to miss any homework. If you’re awake, just give me some sort of signal. I brought my phone too if you want to use that to talk.”
- Lucas
@EmiRose

Something about seeing Tomo in the state she was in was inherently unnerving. Sure, Lucas knew that she was in good hands at this hospital and would likely walk out just fine in a week or two, but that didn’t change the fact that his friend looked like she was on her deathbed. For Tomo to be somewhat complacent at in hospital room only a day after refusing to ride in an ambulance while bleeding out, he knew she was in terrible condition. There was nothing fair about it either. Barely scraped up himself, Tomo was covered in bandages and bruises because she risked her life to help others. Being on the opposite side of the place he was three years ago, seeing Tomo like this was unbearable.

“ Of course not” Lucas retorted with a short lived grin. The anticipation of any reply back was killed as the echo in his head. Embarrassed, his ears hung flat. Chances were, if he could barely make out his own voice neither could Tomo. So, he handed the phone over and scooted a chair towards Tomo’s hospital bed with what little energy he had left. Flipping to a new page of the notebook, he began to write.

‘ Of course you don’t. Anyways, Riley is getting out in a few hours. Superhuman healing. You know, god perks.’

Lucas stiffly sat down on the chair backwards, its back still facing Tomo. It felt unnatural sitting this way, especially in a situation was nowhere near casual. He positioned his spiral notebook over the back of the chair. The blank pages faced him while Tomo could see the message he just wrote. His efficiency level was near genius, or at least enough to make writing back and forth easier.

Despite keeping a fairly straight face this whole time, his tail began to tuck under. Worrying was supposed to be his thing, especially now.

‘ I’m fine too. Legit no scrapes or anything. It only took them a few hours to check up on me, probably because the they’re so sick of seeing my face around here.’

Flip.

‘ You look like shit. What dose of pain meds did they even loop you up on? How have you not fought any nurses yet? How long are you staying here?There’s a lot of questions I have for you, but now is not the time. I’m so happy you’re alive.’

To be fair, Lucas also looked just as shit, just in the non-critical condition way Tomo was in. He looked pale, almost blue. His hair so tangled it obstructed his face some. Worst of all, his eyes were watery. He was on the verge of tears, again.

@EmiRose

Seeing Tomo smile again gave him a false sense of ease about the situation. As much as he wanted to believe her, he knew that the healing and advanced technology could only do so much. Even if the hospital could fully mend her injuries, she was still in a position no one who went through the portal should have been in.

In the end, the group somehow did something amazing. They ended the downpour of snow and saved a god while they were at it. Still, their victory did not come without a cost, in most cases busted hearing, but a few of them were still at the hospital a day later. Tomo was one of them. Recovery would not going to be easy, especially with the injuries she sustained. It would be a long, boring, and painful process. He curled his fist. Why did she have to be so reckless? Even so, her smile was contagious. Lucas felt as if he was melting, overcome with relief and other emotions.

Lucas watched her type away, shifting in his chair. When she lifted the screen, his eyes widened at the lengthy response. Apparently, she was well enough to write an essay. It baffled him how coherent she was under a high dose of pain meds. How could he even respond to so much? Unsurprisingly enough, she was still the same old Tomo that refused to do homework and threatened to kill him if he got killed. His ears perked when he read that she was getting out soon. Then his whole face lit up. He looked past her injuries at her without shifting eyes. Tomo was hurt, but there was enough hope that he could look at her without feeling a pang of guilt stab his gut.

He got to writing again, attentively dotting his I’s and underlining for emphasis. When he flipped it over, the next page looked like the notes he wrote in class, complete with a badly drawn bird that was intended to be a chicken.

‘Something tells me you’re already down like three. Maybe four?... I know I look like shit. Had to pull an all-nighter in the waiting room to check with everyone. My back hurts from those dumb chairs in the waiting room. They look comfortable, but sitting in them they’re more like a brick covered in fake leather.It was worth it to nag you about homework. Which you’re going to do yourself, sorry. If you think the nurses like me, trust me, they don’t, or at least now. After camping out last night, I’m pretty sure they can legally refuse to take me back even if I’m dying. No more jumping into portals for me, I can’t afford it. So I’m not letting either of us die anytime soon.’

He looked up at her with a soft grin.

Though it was not quite an obvious reaction, Lucas turned red when Tomo touched him. The way he blushed was more subtle compared to most due to his complexion. He still felt intensely warm, burning almost. At first he thought it was just anger, if anyone else touched his head, especially near his ears he would have burst into flames. It was demeaning. Lucas was a person, not a dog. Yet, he felt no instinct to grab her hand and put it back by her side. Of all people, Tomo knew what it was like to be coddled by strangers as a cat. They talked about those frustrations from time to time, she knew. Lucas was ok with Tomo patting him because he wanted to do the same, he wanted to let her know how much he cared about her. How scared he was. But knowing that there would be many other times now that she was ok, he withheld. Quite frankly, Lucas didn’t turn red because he was annoyed.

They spent a few hours together. Flipping back and forth. Figuring out dumb ways to pass the time that sometimes involved Lucas making a fool of himself and several stern warnings from the nurses. Tomo’s eyes rolled to the back of her head every time Lucas had to explain the extremely specific puns he made about the medical equipment in the room. Lucas would fake a smirk because he knew she was not able punch him, yet. When Tomo got out of the hospital they had a terrible script prepared for a horror movie they could film, complete with directors’ notes and camera directions. Even with all shenanigans, most of the morning was spent talking about what happened. Just being at her side was enough.

Emotions are not always black and white. Lucas had felt happy, angry, and sad before, but he had also felt other things that did not have the right name. The way he felt about Caius was never pure hate. Sometimes Lucas would come to him for advice because he knew that his father still looked out for him. And his siblings, they loved him too, even after he took their mother. Deep down they resented him to an extent. Even a simple feeling could become mind bogglingly complicated, closer to symptoms. Sleep deprivation, fever, increased heartbeat. Whatever Tomo had in October was contagious.