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Arata hums to himself as he heads up to Souma’s room. Everything’s perfect. He got crap from Tatsuya for being in such a good mood, but nothing’s tearing him down today.
He’s practically bursting when he gets into Souma’s room.
“How’s the most perfect partner in the whole world doing?” Arata asks.
Souma stays quiet, just looking out the window.
“Souma? Something wrong?”
“It’s nothing .” Souma bites out.
“...You’re really gonna lie to me like that, partner?”
“What do you want, Arata?”
“Ok, I don’t know what’s wrong today, but I have something that’s going to make it so much better.” Arata’s grinning so hard his face hurts. “The doctor says you can leave for an overnight!”
“No thanks.”
It’s like getting doused with ice water. “Huh?”
“I don’t want to leave, Arata,” Souma says. “I’d rather be miserable here than go out and be face to face with all the things I can’t do anymore.”
“Huh?” Arata asks, “did something happen?” Souma was excited to go out yesterday, he should be overjoyed at getting to be out of the hospital overnight.
“Watanabe dumped coffee on my lap.”
“Wait, what?” Ms. Watanabe, their homeroom teacher from high school? They’d ran into her while stopping at a cafe.
“Yeah, she did it then made a crack out by how cripples— her words— can’t feel pain in the paralyzed parts of their body then took her sweet time getting a napkin. Joke’s on her, feeling pain is one of the few things I can still do.”
“What the hell? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Old habits. I never told you about the hell she put me through in high school because I was worried you’d pick her over me.”
“Souma,” Arata says, reaching for his hands, “I would never—”
“What, leave me?” Souma asks. “Too late, you already did”
“I—”
“Three years!” Souma snaps. “You left me for three years Arata! No goodbye, no note, no nothing! I can’t deal with it anymore, you waltzing back in here, like everything’s still the same!”
“I-I’m sorry,” Arata says. Is he crying? “I know, I know.”
God, what was he thinking. Thinking everything was alright when he did that to Souma. He’s been bringing Souma out and doing things and this whole time Souma’s hated it. He’s the worst partner ever— no, he doesn’t even deserve to be Souma’s partner.
He runs out of the room, and into the emergency staircase. He sits on the cold steps and brings his head to his knees.
He’s always known this would happen, that Souma would see him for the mess he is. It’s like someone has set his entire body on fire— not that that could compare to the pain Souma’s in every day.
“Tono?” a voice asks from behind him.
Arata turns around to see Toya-kun.
“What, you here to yell at me too?” Arata asks. “I know you only put up with me for Souma’s sake.”
“No,” Toya-kun says, “I was going to say that Souma-san didn’t mean that.”
“Really?”
“There’s this thing going around, Persistent Psychotic Breakdown Syndrome, it makes people very angry and agitated and they lash out at whatever’s nearby.”
“So a disease that makes people act like me?”
“I’d hope you drew the line at throwing Akito into a river, but broadly, yes.”
“Wait, what?”
“My parents,” Toya says. “They ran into Akito and shoved him into the river. That’s why I’m here, he’s getting checked for hypothermia, and my parents had to be hospitalized so they don’t hurt anyone else.”
“Oh.” Arata says. “I’m sorry.”
“Hopefully they find a treatment for it soon and everyone will be back to normal, is what I’m trying to say.”
“Even if it does, Souma hasn’t said anything that wasn’t true.”
“...I don’t disagree, but I do know that when he’s back to normal, he’ll be more miserable than he says he is right now.”
Arata takes a deep breath. “Yeah. You’re right.” Arata hates that Toya-kun’s right, because that means he’s always hurting Souma no matter what, but it is what it is.
~
The next morning, Arata gets to the hospital as soon as visiting hours open. He’s prepared to get yelled at for as long as it takes for Souma to get better, but Souma’s just sobbing when he gets into the room.
“A-arata?” Souma gasps. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”
“Toya told me what’s up, you have… er.. Perceptive--?
“Persistent Psychotic Breakdown Syndrome,” Souma says. “Dr. Tada’s workshopping the name.”
“Yeah, that, but you feel better?”
“Yeah, all of a sudden I realized I was being awful to you. I tried to to text but I didn’t know what to say and--”
“I’m not mad,” Arata says, “you were sick, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine, nothing justifies me saying that to you, even Watanabe—”
“Oh yeah, I told Mom about that and she said it might classify as assault if you want to sue.”
“Arata, that’s not the point!” Souma says, exasperated, “I don’t hate going out with you, I’m not miserable when we’re together. I love every minute of it.”
“Then… how does that overnight sound?” Arata asks. “You, me, an unreasonable amount of popcorn, and cuddling on the couch to watch Moulin Rouge?”
Tears well up in Souma’s eyes. “Yeah, I’d love that.”
“Good, and partner?” Arata says, “I know you didn’t mean to say that stuff, but I just wanna say, I’m sorry I left. That was stupid of me, even if I told myself I was doing it for you. So I can’t really promise I’ll never leave, but I can promise this: I’ll always come back.”
“Thanks, partner.” Souma says. “Now, do you mind leaning down so I can kiss you senseless?”