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“No, stop!” Ezra cried, pressing himself back against the wall as he shoved Kanan’s hand away.
“I’m sorry,” Kanan said. “I know this is going to hurt, but I have to do it.”
“Just…just wait,” Ezra said, his teeth gritted against the pain.
Kanan took a step back, giving Ezra space as he sat there, his hands bunching into fists as he tried to mentally prepare himself for what was about to happen. Of all the things he could have dislocated, why did it have to be his hip? Even his shoulder would have been better. He knew that would hurt just as much, but at least it had happened before and now he knew what to expect if it happened again.
“Are you sure you don’t want the sedative?” Kanan asked, his eyes flitting toward the bottle of pills that Ezra had set aside without opening. “It’ll help with the pain.”
Ezra shook his head. Being sedated would only make this worse, even if he would still have some awareness of what was happening to him.
“It’s not just the pain,” he muttered, averting his eyes so he didn’t have to look at Kanan. “It’s…”
His voice trailed off as he gestured vaguely at his injured hip, hoping that Kanan would get what he was trying to say without him actually having to say it.
“Oh,” Kanan said, realizing what Ezra was referring to.
“Yeah,” Ezra said, still not looking at Kanan. He could handle pain. You didn’t survive very long as a kid on the streets with almost no access to medical care without learning to ignore it when things started to hurt. But the idea of someone touching his leg like that, of doing it while he was injured and couldn’t run away, caused a freezing feeling to spread through his chest.
“Ezra, you can’t keep walking around like this,” Kanan said, his voice gentle. “But I’ll tell you everything I’m doing so you know why it’s happening. And I promise, I…I won’t touch you any way I don’t need to.”
Ezra took a deep breath before nodding quickly.
“Okay,” he said.
Kanan took a step toward him and put one hand on Ezra’s knee. Ezra tried to tell himself it was okay, he was safe, Kanan wasn’t going to do anything he shouldn’t, but he still let out a frightened squeak as Kanan’s other hand touched his hip, his thumb feeling inside the joint, sending a sharp jolt of pain through Ezra’s leg.
“I’m just making sure I’m putting pressure in the right spot,” Kanan said, his voice calm and even.
After a moment, his hand stopped moving and Ezra drew in a sharp breath and held it, knowing exactly what was going to happen next.
“Ready?” Kanan asked.
“H–hang on,” Ezra said. Ezra raised his hand to his face and bit down on the base of his thumb.
“I can get you something else to bite,” Kanan said.
“Just do it,” Ezra said, his voice muffled.
“Okay,” Kanan said. “I’m going to reset the joint on three. One –”
Before he even said “two,” Kanan’s hand pressed into Ezra’s hip, the other pushing against his knee. Ezra let out a strangled, muffled yelp of pain, and before he knew it, it was over. His leg was throbbing as if he’d just been punched in the thigh repeatedly, but it was over.
Ezra drew his hand away from his mouth to see deep bite marks in his skin, but no blood. He let out a small sigh of relief as he leaned his forehead against Kanan’s shoulder, breathing heavily, no longer caring about proving to Kanan that he could handle the pain.
“I knew you were going to do that,” he mumbled.
“Sorry,” Kanan said, sounding like he genuinely was. “I guess that’s a pretty old trick, isn’t it?”
Kanan’s arms gently wrapped around Ezra’s shoulders, one hand resting on his back and making small circles in an attempt to soothe him. Ezra’s face burned with embarrassment as he felt his eyes watering.
“It’s okay,” Kanan said. “You’re okay.”
To Ezra’s surprise, one of his own arms slid around Kanan’s chest, returning the hug.
“Th–thanks,” Ezra said, his voice shaking slightly. “For…all of it.”
Thanks for helping me. Thanks for understanding. Thanks for making me feel safe. Thanks for not taking advantage of me. He didn’t want to say any of it out loud, didn’t want to make his fear any more real than it already was, didn’t want to say something else to make it sound like he thought Kanan would do that to him.
Kanan’s arms tightened for a moment before he released Ezra.
“Come on,” he said, carefully helping Ezra to his feet. “Let’s get you to bed. You need to rest that leg for a few days.”
“Days?” Ezra asked with a groan.
“Days,” Kanan said.
“Fine,” Ezra said, conceding defeat as he leaned on Kanan’s shoulder and let his master help him limp back to his cabin.