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they send him to “a doctor that you can talk to” and for the first time in his life octavio doesn’t want to say anything. because being here means there’s something wrong with him.
he swings his legs in the chair, only eight years old and short so he doesn’t even reach the ground when he sits down properly like his parents taught him to. he fidgets with the skins on his fingers and bites his nails. his nails bleed often because of how much he bites them already. it hurts to hold things sometimes but he’s used to it now.
the doctor sits across from him and his parents are sent to wait outside the door. they already told the doctor everything that was wrong with him, why should he talk?
“now, octavio. i understand that you’re very upset about your bunny dying-”
“he exploded,” he says matter-of-factly, swinging his legs just a little faster. he doesn’t like talking to adult strangers very much. “i sent him up in a rocket and he exploded into little bits. it was sad but it was cool.”
the doctor blinks but otherwise seems unfazed. she probably dealt with weirder things than kids lying and exaggerating to make themselves look cooler. that’s what he was here for, right? lying? he lied a lot.
the doctor tries to ask him more questions about how school was going or what was going on in his family currently but he deflects all of that. his parents taught him never to bring up the stuff that happened at home, and he had never told anybody about having no friends at school and getting bullied. so he just stays quiet and keeps going back to mentioning his navi and how much fun they both had when he was still alive. the doctor wasn't going to help him either way.
when they are leaving he can hear the doctor and his parents murmuring under their breaths.
"what are we going to do with him?"
he knows that he is a problem. somehow, doesn't know how, but he is.