Deep In The Woods

My Therapist Told Me No

The silence in the room turns into pretty loud clanging and plates being dropped. Yuki shakes his head in a bad attempt to shake off his dissociation. Jonah stares at Yuki, almost as if waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Yuki asks. He looks down at his food and starts eating, savoring the bitter taste from the blue rare steak on his plate. He shoves a few extra pieces into his mouth to silence himself.

"How was your day? Your mandated therapy session? The normal questions I ask you at the end of the day," Jonah slowly says. A confused look takes its place on his face. He slowly sets his fork on the table. "We don't have to talk about it-" he starts saying.

Taking a deep breath, Yuki shakes his head. He looks at Jonah. "She was telling me today that I was making more progress and I kind of read between the lines and I put together that it was more progress than what she thought she would see with me." A harsh laugh leaves his lips.

"You know that's not what she meant, Mamoru." Jonah's tone takes on the normal scolding Yuki always received from them.

It was always something about Yuki being respectful — mainly, censoring himself so he came across as more dignified than what people automatically assumed of him. "No, but the unspoken words were clear enough that it was obvious she expected the runt to kill himself by running out into the woods." Jo throws their silverware on the plate.

Almost imperceptible cracking reaches Yuki's ears. "Don't you dare say that again," Jonah hisses. "I know that you aren't thinking that suicide is a way out, especially after everything you've made it through, okay? This is why I helped you find a therapist." Jonah's voice softens as he talks and Yuki sighs.

"No, I wasn't ever thinking that." The last piece of red meat is shoved into Yuki's mouth and he starts speaking around the piece. "I have at least one thing I need to accomplish in my lifetime at the very least."

"You're not dying before me, Mamoru. Besides..." An envelope lands in front of Yuki. It barely misses the plate that was still half full. Barely. Yuki furrows his eyebrows and looks at it. Besides the writing indentations on the outside, there was nothing that stood out to him about this envelope. "Read it."

Yuki grabs the crumpled paper from inside the envelope. One thing about Jonah is that no matter how old they get, their belongings will almost always look like it's been manhandled by one of the babies that ran around the outer wall.

"Holy shit, this is from San Lu!" Yuki yells. A chorus of "ooo's" is almost immediately silenced by a glare from Yuki. "How did you even get a letter to the inner wall and get a response?"

"We're werewolves. We have access to all three walls if extenuating circumstances permit it and I was able to finagle the system enough to be let through. Once you get a letter in, you wait to see if a letter comes back." Jonah shrugs as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Yuki's eyes drift across the page. A smile tugs at his lips.

'Mx. Jonah Hill, you have been granted the ability to house one extra person in your plot of land. These circumstances grant you 'custody' of Mr. Mamoru Yuki, effectively relinquishing his parents custody over him. He is to be moved out of the dormitories within Cidal's walls effective immediately. Eviction will start occurring within 3 days if Mr. Mamoru Yuki's move has not started. Mr. Mamoru Yuki's teachers and advisors will be informed immediately of this custodial change

Please contact the San Lu family should any concerns arise.'

Yuki softly laughs, tears glossing over his eyes. "You're shitting me. You know it's illegal to fake letters and paperwork from the government just to get your way," Yuki points out. He carefully slides the paper back into the envelope. "You're going to get arrested."