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“Chishiyaaaaaaa…” Kuina leaned on the bathroom doorframe, waiting for the man in question to come out.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. This place is a mess, just let me find it.”
“I’m not gonna mess it up, I used to have to do the same thing.”
“You think I’m worried?” The door opened, revealing the blond man in his standard jacket and beach shorts. “I trust you enough to do it correctly. Here.” He handed Kuina a small vial, a syringe, and a needle that looked incredibly uncomfortable while he pocketed a band-aid.
“You’re lucky I’m here to help you with this. If you tried to do it to yourself right now I think you’d die, and considering where we are, that’s kind of a pathetic way to go out.” Well, she was right. Chishiya had injured his dominant hand in the last game, and trying to inject a shot into yourself with a bad hand isn’t a great idea.
He sat down on the mildly-uncomfortable bed, huffing a sigh as Kuina slipped on a pair of latex gloves.
“Being extra careful?”
“This place is fuckin’ nasty, I might as well.” She sat next to him on the bed, using the bedside table to organize everything.
—
A while ago, when Chishiya had just arrived in the borderlands, he set off to find a pharmacy that had some form of testosterone. If he didn’t, he’d probably just let his visa run out.
“Nope, nope, nope…” He scoured the isles behind the counter, looking through random prescriptions of who-knows-what. “I feel like I’m somehow the only trans man in this entire city.” He laughed to himself, but the doorbell chimed, interrupting his searching.
“Anyone in heeeeeere?” A voice called out, accompanied by the soft sound of heels clacking on the tile floor.
Chishiya turned his head, eyes being met with a tall woman in shorts and a baggy shirt browsing the over-the-counter shelves. “Yes, actually.”
“Oh shit-“ The woman turned, dark locs of hair following her movement. “Aha, I didn’t actually expect anyone.” She smiled, amused at her own reaction. “You lookin’ for your stuff too?”
“Yup.” And Chishiya was reminded to continue his search.
“Say,” The woman quickly made her way to the counter before sitting on it and sliding around to the other side. “They got any estrogen patches there? Or shots, I honestly don’t give a shit.”
Oh?
Chishiya glanced over at the woman once more, whose stance was serenely confident. Maybe she was in the same boat as him.
“I think I have… I’m not sure where it was, though.”
“That’s good enough for me to bother lookin’.” She joined him, kneeling down on the opposite side of the shelf he was inspecting.
In the silence of their joint searches, Chishiya somehow wished that she would and wouldn’t talk again.
“So, whatcha lookin’ for?” She questioned.
“Oh, uh…” He subconsciously leaned out of her sight, but kept his unfazed tone. “Some sort of testosterone. As you said, anything works.”
“Ooooh, okay!” She smiled at him, or at least in his direction. “I’ll let’cha know if I see anythin’.” She stood up, filtering through the prescriptions on the top shelf. “Ugh, why is everything here so unorganized?”
“Why should I know?” He spoke, slightly more callous than he intended. “Oh, hey,” He stood up, holding a plastic prescription bag. “Found some E patches.” He walked over to the other side, handing the bag to the woman.
“Yo, thanks!” She smiled, checking the contents of the bag. “I’ll let’cha know if I see anything for you.” She paused for a moment, eyes subtly darting back and forth as Chishiya tilted his head, curious.
“So like… are ya trans?”
Wow, that’s awfully blunt.
“I-I’m just asking because I am! Well, If ya’ couldn’t tell by the estrogen. I promise I’m not tryna’ be rude, sorry.”
Chishiya chuckled at her reaction. “No need to apologize. I am.”
“Cool.” She smiled, fiddling with a lock of her hair. “Oh, I’m Kuina, by the way.”
“Chishiya.” He smiled back.
“We’ll, let’s keep lookin’, yeah?” She walked over to where she was looking previously.
He nodded, following her.
“I’ll look on the top shelf. You probably can’t reach it anyways.” She looked down, smiling mischievously.
“Wow, coming for my height now? Playing dirty, I see…”
—
“You’re so lucky they had estrogen patches.”
“You’re so unlucky they didn’t have testosterone ones.”
“Eh, I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least they had something.”
She opened the packaging of the needle, inserting it into the syringe. “Damn, I forgot how thick these dumb needles are.”
Chishiya scoffed. “You’re telling me.” He watched as Kuina stuck the needle through the vial.
“How much?” She turned to the blond.
“150. I do it every two weeks.”
“Aw, c’mon, that’s gotta hurt more.” She turned back to the vial, biting her lip in focus as she filled the syringe.
“Well, yeah, but I don’t know when I’ll get to do it next. Did you forget where we are?” If doing his shot now was hard, it would definitely be more difficult while running around a destroyed Tokyo.
“Fair enough.” She shrugged. “Alright, point to wherever you need it.”
He lifted a leg of his beach shorts up his thigh. “Right about… There, I think.”
“Cool. Now don’t get mad at me if this hurts, ‘Shiya.”
“I won’t.”
Kuina positioned the syringe, looking to Chishiya for confirmation, who nodded.
“…Ow.” He pursed his lips slightly, the only indicator he was hurt.
“You good?”
“Yeah. Just not used to someone else doing it.”
“There, all done.” She smiled, throwing out the used needle. With Chishiya’s unhurt hand, he undid the band-aid wrapper and stuck it over the injection site.
“…Thank you, by the way.”
“Of course, man. I’ll always help you out with this stuff.”
“I just… Well, I couldn’t really ask anyone else but you to do this for me. So thanks.” He pulled his shorts back over his thigh.
Kuina stood up and headed for the door. “I think I’m gonna lay by the pool for a bit. Wanna come?”
“Eh, I think I’d rather stay in.” He leaned back to fully lay on the bed. “But maybe I’ll come by and grab a drink later. Either way, you know where to find me.”
She smiled back at him in acknowledgement, then reached for the door. “Wait- shit.”
“Hm?” Chishiya propped himself up on his good hand.
“I’ll be out of patches soon. I gotta go grab some more.” She sighed. “Guess I can’t have a nice pool day.”
“Well,” He lifted himself off of the bed. “Let’s go let someone know we’re leaving.”
“You wanna come?” She said, happily surprised.
“If I recall, you’re not that great at finding anything in a pharmacy. At least you weren’t last time.”
“Oh, shut it.”
“What? Am I wrong?”
“…No.”
“Exactly. And maybe when we’re done, I’ll join you by the pool.”
Kuina smiled at him, letting silence sit for a moment as she opened the door. “Thanks.”
Chishiya looked up, smiling back. “Of course.”