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Nico was crying, gauze stuffed in his creeks, looking hypothetically cute, but more pity inducing than anything else.
“H-Hajime” the muffled voice calls out, “don’t weave me hewre awone! I’m gonna die!”
Hajime pushes him gently off, “you won’t die Nico, it’s just a half dose of pain medication, you literally could not be more careful if you tried.”
“But… But… it’s inside me!”
“and? You take worse shit daily!”
Nico slunk to the floor, sobbing. No one could make out the words he was trying to say anymore.
Rock pulled Hajime to the side, “listen man, I can explain. It’s an American thing. Especially in the city where we grew up, that word printed on that bottle? That… we don’t even say it. It’s like that old saying, ‘speak of the devil and he shall appear’. That shit’s a death sentence in pill form. There is no coming back from that. If it doesn’t kill you directly it’ll starve you by siphoning your money until you lose everything.”
“maybe in a higher dosage, it’s 75% Tylenol what they gave him. And he only took a one when the thing said two pills.”
Rock shook his head, and clenched his jaw before sighing, “It’s still scary, even for someone like Nico, not to mention the anesthesia hasn’t completely worn off, he’s going to get emotional. Just… please don’t force him to take them. If the pin gets bad enough he will, but for now just let him take the standard Tylenol.”
Hajime threw his hands up, “fine, whatever, but I’m going home. I have a pregnant fiancée to take care of!”
Nico had stopped crying, “I-I’m sowry Rovk, if I didn’t have this stupid allergy to Ibu…ibe… that thing, we wouldn’t have had to get the alternative ones.”
Rock helped Nico back into the recliner, “Nico, it’s fine, you’re fine. You head what hajime said, that only made up ¼ of the pill, and you only took a ½ dose. And from here on out you don’t have to take any more unless you want to. I’ll leave them here, in case you need them. Seitorou will be here in a minute, and he’ll keep you safe!”
Nico had sat watching food network for a while until Seitorou wandered in with a shopping bag.
“Ah, there you are! Hajime said I was going to be watching you tonight. Are you doing better?”
Nico shrugs, but pointed to the pile of used up gauze on the table next to him.
“Yeah, you always have been a bleeder. I bought some extra gauze just in case. Do you think you’re up to eat something?”
Nico removed some gauze to talk somewhat normally, “tongue’s still numb but I am hungry.”
They managed to get some jello into Nico’s stomach, but he didn’t look satisfied.
“tummy feels bad.”
Seitorou furrows his brow, “your stomach? Did you take an medicine?”
“half dose of that- had a panic attack after.”
Seitorou picked up the bottle Nico had pointed to and read over it, grimacing, “oh wow, I guess with your allergies they didn’t have much of a choice. But this probably could upset your stomach, even at a half dose. But you’re half way through the time so at a half dose it should wear soon. Are you planning on taking more of these? Or do you want to try with just the normal ones for a while?”
“Normal.” Nico murmurd, “Hajime got mad though.”
“Well he’s not too well versed in American drug culture, so he probably thought you were being overly dramatic. But Rock explained it to me before I came it. Anyway, enough about pills and culture, why don’t we watch some anime? I never did get around to watching that one that came out last November that everyone loved to much.”
Nico’s face lit up even though he couldn’t smile. Seitorou didn’t know what he was missing!
-
Several hours later, they sat crying happy tears in the dark lounge, Nico’s head resting against Seitorou’s shoulder. The dramatic near-death of the main character’s beloved pet and eventual tearful reunion between the love interests was just too much to bear. It was Nico’s third watch, but it still got him every time. Or maybe it was the sleep deprivation and lack of proper sustenance. Hard to eat anything when you can only open your mouth an inch or so.
He had wanted to sleep but he kept thinking the gauze would fall out of place and he’d choke on it. It was a rational fear! But he couldn’t take it out to sleep because A. he’s still bleeding after like ten hours, B. having it out hurt for some reason, and C. although he hadn’t fully read the instructions, it sounded like something he wasn’t supposed to do.
And apparently if you somehow screw this up, it’ll ruin your life forever, according to the internet.
So instead they decided to Re-watch One Punch Man for like the fifth time and hopefully be lulled to sleep by the sounds of breaking bones and explosions.
It worked. Somehow.
-
Day two was fine, not much happened.
But day three, oh god day three.
Day three is the worst, lemme tell you.
Nico sat, the bottle of pills in his hand, jaw throbbing like Saitama himself had just socked him right in the face. It was excruciating, and it had begun to swell and bruise a dark, ugly yellow.
Go to a mirror and puff out your creeks as hard as you can. Now imagine that it looked like you just lost a fistfight with god. Combine those images. And you have Nico’s current predicament.
At least it had stopped bleeding? But it still felt better to have the gauze supporting his jaw.
Seitorou had stepped out to go to the bathroom, and Nico knew this was his only chance. He had just downed a bowl of terrible chicken soup and a jello cup, meaning he was more than set for the nausea to come.
But… maybe he’d do a one-fourth dose, just in case.
He had to swallow his pride before the pill, but he managed it before Seitorou returned.
And the regret was immediate. His knees went immediately week, the room spinning more than it already had been in his weakened state. He dropped to the floor next to the mirror he used to help take the pills while he couldn’t open his mouth like he normally would. He’d cry, but with how much it hurt to do anything, it likely wasn’t a solid idea.
Seitorou had returned then.
“Nico! Nico what happened?” his voice was high, trembling.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I couldn’t take it!” Nico cried, handing over the bottle and pill cutter, “it hurts too much.”
Seitorou kneeled next to Nico’s trembling form, hushing him gently, “you’re okay, you survived the first one right? And this one’s even less.”
“but I can’t Sei! I can’t!”
Seitorou took his hand, “Yes you can. The doctor wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, you know that. Come on, lets go back to the couch and watch something, to take your mind off it. How about we check out a show Hitoshi recommended to me? It’s a magical girl show themed around princesses and apparently it’s really good.”
There was around 50 episode of it, so they’d easily be busy watching for the rest of the recovery time at least. And it really was a good series. It was unique, nothing like the rest of it’s franchise, but it brought a fresh spin to the concept and the execution was just great. It was the sort of show that reminded the viewer why they jumped down the anime rabbit hole in the first place.
And, as Seitorou had so expertly predicted, Nico was quickly and surely distracted.
-
It had taken five days for Nico to be up and about at all, even though the surgeon had estimated he’d be back in his cell in four, tops. But Seitorou had been glad to spend the extra time with him, as there really was no need to watch the halls these days. Everyone, even the prisoners, were too focused on the wedding to cause mischief.
And when Seitorou was finally tore away from his coddling/anime binge session, something just didn’t feel right about returning to his post.
“don’t tell me you’re getting attached to the kid now.” Hajime grumbled.
“w-well he’s really not that bad Hajime!”
“still, you’re a prison guard! And regardless of how ridiculous his circumstance is, he cant just be your friend like that!”
Seitorou frowned, “and what makes you say that? Your future wife doesn’t seem to have much of an issue with it.”
They both turned to Momoko, who was reading through some mail, “what? Don’t drag me into your fight. It’s hardly my business what Seitorou does with his free time as long as he doesn’t cause any trouble.”
Seitorou grinned smugly, “you know, he even gave me a nickname~”
Hajime’s head hit the table so hard it cracked.