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When Doctor Ujiko said he would be going through “four months of pure hell”, he didn’t really think too much about how realistic the description was gonna be. After all, he had already walked through hell and back at least eleven times by this stage of his life. But as the initial surgery drew to a close, and Ujiko ordered him to stand up while he began preparing the stasis tank for the next part of the ordeal, Tomura found that he couldn’t move.
Technically he could wobble his body back and forth in spite of the extreme pain, but his legs weren’t doing jack. He found this out by trying to leave the surgical table, only to fall off the damn thing and land with his limbs sprawling about like a rag doll. Perfect. Now what?
He couldn’t get up by himself, and Ujiko certainly wasn’t gonna help him stand since the old man’s weight was far more fat than muscle. He was considering trying to crawl his way over until he saw the doctor fiddling with Johnny. Looks like someone else was gonna have to scrape his body off the floor and dump him in the tank. He wondered who the lucky helper was gonna be.
When Ujiko left the room and the black storm of goo cleared up, the helper was revealed to be Spinner. Good, someone who gave a damn about him for being something other than a lab rat. He should say hi, it’s been a long month –or was it two?– and he was happy to see one of his loyal friends for the first time in forever, especially Spinner.
Well “hi” was apparently the wrong greeting because Spinner was freaking out over him as if he was already dead, a freshly murdered corpse just waiting to be discovered. To be fair, he certainly felt like a corpse.
“How did you get on the floor like that? I thought you were supposed to become god-like or something after the surgery! Why are you bleeding out on the floor?!” As the scaled swordsman shouted at him, he was simultaneously hauling ass over towards him, quickly scooping him up in those thick, muscular arms of his.
Judging by the reaction, lightening the mood would probably be good for Spinner’s mental state, so he decided to try that.
“That’s because this is just the first part of the surgery, I gotta wait until everything comes together at the end. This first part also practically tore me limb from limb, rearranged my intestines, and mostly just did an absolute number on my body. So, my legs decided not to work, and now I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.”
Huh, it looked like Spinner was choosing to ignore him in favor of placing him back on the table and cleaning his wounds. Attempting to at least, since he knew there wasn’t much anyone could do at this stage.
Well, if humor didn’t work, he could try explaining how everything was gonna be fine after this was all over. So, he started talking about exactly that: how this was nothing, the pain was worth it, he was gonna get all the power he needed to make sure he could give Spinner and the rest of the league anything and everything, whatever they needed to live as they saw fit. He even added how once he was done, Spinner would never have to suffer again, not if he could help it, and that all of this was for Spinner and the league, all for them.
It was the look of bewilderment in those pretty pink eyes that finally helped him realize that Spinner most likely had no idea what he was saying, and that he probably looked like a babbling lunatic to him. Wow, he really was out of it. Nonetheless, Spinner remained steadfast by his side regardless of his inane rambling, carefully wiping the blood away with gentle hands, touching him with a sort of reverence he’d never experienced before.
Later, Ujiko reentered the room, telling them that everything was ready with an impatient tone. Spinner picked him up and followed the doctor to a room covered in tubes and wires, with the stasis tank standing dead center. The swordsman carried him over, taking great care to mind his wounds. Please, as if he couldn’t handle a little more discomfort. They reached the tank, and Spinner switched from holding him bridal style to safely cradling him in one arm, using his quirk to climb up the glass. Once they reached the top opening, Ujiko gave out the last instructions.
“Alright, just go ahead and drop him in, then I’ll lower the oxygen mask down and he’ll be all set.”
He braced himself for the drop, knowing he could probably take it even with all the bruising and bleeding, yet the drop never came. Instead, Spinner climbed down into the tank the same way he had climbed up it before. The oxygen mask was subsequently dropped down, and at this point Tomura tried to make a grab for it before having his hands coaxed back down. Having had enough with this coddling, he decided to call Spinner out.
“It’s fine,” he unintentionally whispered, voice hoarse from the month of screaming and the previous babbling. He took the opportunity to look straight at Spinner, despite the headache that came with moving his head, “I got it. I’ve had worse.”
And it once again looked like the wrong thing to say, as Spinner sharply turned towards him with a frustrated expression and shouted, “That doesn’t mean you need to put up with it!”
Oh, Spinner heard him this time. And now his friend was sighing, so he did his best to perk up to let him know he was listening right back.
“Knowing you can handle the pain doesn’t mean you automatically have to,” Spinner softly spoke, returning to the task of adjusting his oxygen mask. “I don’t even know if you’re all there, if you can even think right with everything going on. Shiga– Tomura, y-you keep rambling about how you’re gonna make sure we don’t suffer anymore, but it’s like you can’t see how much you’re suffering right now. Just… you’re doing so much for us, for me, so let me do something for you. Let me ease your suffering, even if it’s probably not by much.”
Oh.
Tomura actually felt a bit warmer after hearing that, a bit less tense and more relaxed. It felt like it was –no wait yes it really was– genuinely nullifying all that bodily pain. He tried to remember the scientific explanation behind what was happening, something about dopamine maybe, but he was too far gone to think about much of anything at this point. Either way, he already concluded that Spinner really was amazing, able to alleviate aches with some heartfelt words and soothing touches.
His train of thoughts halted as he felt Ujiko’s magical mystery solution rise up the tank, soon enough surrounding both him and Spinner, though not enough to prevent the scaled man from coming up for air. Even as the solution filled most of the tank, Spinner refused to let him go, choosing to hold him close as they floated in the solution and he began to go into stasis.
He could feel his heartbeat start to slow down, and he knew that it would only be another minute or so before it would cease to beat altogether. The whole time he was losing his consciousness, he continued to feel clawed fingers tenderly running across his scalp, tangling through his unruly hair. He could also feel the other hand rubbing his back to relax him even further, and the brush of a scaled beak nuzzling into his cheek and the crook of his neck.
As his heartbeat finally came to a stop, he felt a light pressure on his temple. He had just enough time to realize that it was a kiss before falling into the void.