Work Text:
Tsuzuru breathes a sigh of relief after flipping the daycare’s sign to closed.
All the kids have been picked up, and most of the cleaning is done so he’d sent Sakuya and Citron on their way. Tsuzuru is more than happy to finish up the rest of the cleaning, even if he’s exhausted.
Kids are hard work.
Thank god he doesn’t plan on having any. He has enough siblings and enough work children to get him by.
Picking up the last of the toys and putting them in their respective crates, Tsuzuru is finally done for the night. It feels good, but knowing that the weekend is still so far away allows for an exasperated sigh.
Grabbing his keys from his pocket, Tsuzuru is about to leave and lock the door behind him when it opens, the bells above chiming.
“Oh, sorry, we’re actually closed-”
But it’s not a mother and child who had walked in.
A man stands there, gripping his side with a visible red spot growing underneath his hand, effectively staining his white shirt.
“Chikage-san!” Tsuzuru’s gasps, watching as the man, Chikage, blinks at him before collapsing to the floor in front of him. He can do nothing but stare for a moment in horror before bursting into action, rushing forward to lift him off the floor.
“Christ, Chikage-san, what the fuck,” Tsuzuru breathes out, draping Chikage’s arm over shoulders and attempting to drag him into the back. It’s incredibly difficult, since Chikage is both taller than him, unconscious, and heavy.
They make it, but not without Tsuzuru looking back in dismay at the pool of blood on the floor in the middle of the playroom that he’s going to have to clean up.
Tsuzuru all but drops Chikage onto the metal table he has there for situations like these. Believe it or not, this has happened more than once, and Tsuzuru isn’t sure why he helps every time.
He’s not a criminal. But now he’s an accessory. To what? He’s not even sure. Chikage’s work is a mystery, one in which he strings Tsuzuru along whether he likes it or not.
But that’s all for naught now, Tsuzuru needing to focus on finding the source of the bleeding and stop it. He rips Chikage’s shirt, buttons scattering across the room and falling like raindrops. There’s a noticeable hole in his side oozing blood, drenching his skin and pouring out onto the table.
“Okay.” Tsuzuru takes a deep breath, going to wash his hands and get some gloves and a mask on. He’s not a certified doctor, but he’s taken care of enough children and given temporary stitches to know what to do.
Finding a bullet is a new one, but he’s educated himself on that too.
When Chikage started coming to him, even though Tsuzuru protested he got himself familiarized with every medical procedure he could do in the backroom of a shady daycare. Against his better judgment, Tsuzuru can perform standard procedures with decency. Enough to keep Chikage alive.
Sometimes, he wishes he had the ability to not care.
“Stay with me, Chikage-san,” Tsuzuru whispers, even though Chikage is unconscious and rapidly losing color in his face.
Preparing the anesthetic, Tsuzuru flicks the needle to get rid of air bubbles before administering it above the wound. It takes a bit to take effect, but every second counts with this. Switching on the overhead lamp, he positions it over Chikage’s body and puts on safety glasses.
Grabbing the forceps, Tsuzuru closely examines the wound. A normal person would get woozy from this, staring down a gunshot wound. However, Tsuzuru is calm despite the cold sweat beading at his forehead.
Maybe he shouldn’t be doing this. Is removing the bullet going to do more harm than good?
Tsuzuru does try. With extreme care he lowers the forceps to the wound and tries to find the bullet. Without professional training, Tsuzuru really doesn’t know how to search, and he doesn’t have the proper magnifying tools.
“Tsu...zuru...” Chikage breathes out, voice crackling. He sounds totally unlike himself and Tsuzuru glances over to find the man trying to open his eyes. He hadn’t noticed before, but his glasses are shattered and the fractures in the glass are filled with blood.
“Chikage-san, save your breath,” Tsuzuru commands, a rarity for him. How is the man even awake right now?
After a few desperate minutes of searching, Tsuzuru lets out an exasperated groan and throws down the forceps. He’d questioned it, sure, but Tsuzuru is positive now that removing the bullet would do more harm than good. Chikage most likely needs a blood transfusion as well, and Tsuzuru definitely is not equipped for that.
“Chikage-san, you have to go to the hospital.” Tsuzuru presses down firmly onto the wound with a gauze, the material quickly soaking with blood as Tsuzuru searches for the sutures.
“No.” Chikage argues, with a firm but small voice. So unlike him. Tsuzuru can’t stand it.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood, I don’t have that type of equipment, you could die- ”
“ No. ” Chikage’s voice is stronger now and Tsuzuru inhales through his nose.
He’s not about to argue with him on his deathbed.
If he has to stitch him up and then silently call for an ambulance, he will.
Tsuzuru replaces his pair of gloves and resanitizes everything, including the bullet wound. Miraculously, it feels like the bleeding is letting up, or maybe he’s lost almost all the blood in his body and there’s nothing left. Tsuzuru doesn’t really know.
Chikage is incredibly pale. And cold.
Taking the forceps again, he threads the needle like he’s about to sew, and gets to stitching Chikage up as fast and as skillfully as he can.
There’s no finesse to it, but the wound closes, and the bleeding trickles to a stop.
Tsuzuru cleans it up and covers it, this time the blood barely seeping through.
“Chikage-san, this is... this is too much...” Tsuzuru takes his gloves off and picks up Chikage’s hand. The man is well and truly unconscious now, and Tsuzuru blinks back tears. Chikage’s breathing is shallow, too shallow.
This will be the last time Tsuzuru does this for him.
Kissing his knuckles, Tsuzuru lays his hand back down to the cold metal table. He’s going to have to find some way to hide this room from the police, and he’s going to have to clean the blood off the rubber puzzle mats out front beforehand.
But he has to get Chikage proper medical attention. His lives are at their limit, and Tsuzuru’s out of patience.