Silco x Reader

Thirty-Two

With the utmost care, you took Silco's face in both hands and positioned his head so that it would hurt the least when the needle pierced the retina.

He held his breath, but forced himself to keep his eyes still.

"Do it quickly.", the tone in his voice revealed he was still unsure about the procedure.

"Unfortunately, I can't. Speed means uncleanliness. I can't risk it with that eye.", you brushed a gray strand from his forehead. "Get through it and I can ease the pain afterwards."

He swallowed hard.

As the syringe returned to his field of vision you could see his hands tighten. Fingers clenched into fists, shoulders stiffened like stone. His chin moved in your grip.

"Grab my thigh.", you said before the tip of the needle could touch his eye.

Frowning, he looked at you out of the corner of his eye.

"What?", he asked, forgetting his tension through confusion.

"My thigh. Grab it."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"To calm you down. When fear overcomes you, you can squeeze. Like a stress ball."

"I'm not afraid!"

"You are too tense. If you move too much and are too stiff, I'll probably make mistakes."

"But you shouldn't, Samaritan.", he growled, bearing his teeth.

Sighing, you rolled your eyes.

"Now shut up and grab my thigh!", you growled, slowly losing patience.

It was hard to argue with him. Every time you had the feeling that he always had to know everything better and was imposing his own will. It was like arguing with a child, only this child acted much more logically.

It took a moment of demonstrative dangling of the needle of the syringe over his eye before a sigh left his lips and a hand settled on your leg.

"What if I press too hard?", he asked.

"Don't worry.", you picked the perfect starting point to hit his pupil again. "I'm used to pain."

"Huh."

"Did you just laugh?"

"No."

"Whatever you say, peacock."

The sudden nickname took him by surprise. His eyes widened a bit while his eyebrows lifted.

You used the moment to plunge the syringe into the pupil.

The needle sank through the cornea like through butter, right into the distorted spot where his pupil opened.

A hiss escaped him, and his legs tensed. Harsh, his fingers clawed into your soft flesh.

But you did not let yourself be distracted. With a firm grip you held his head in place while your thumb slowly pressed.

The purple liquid began to flow.

At that very moment, Silco let out a painful growl. His teeth clenched. The grip on your thigh became harder, so hard that his nails could have scraped across your bones.

The marks he left would be visible for a long time. In some places they became bruises.

As the shimmer flowed into his eye, you could see for a tiny moment how things were changing. The orange trembled, darkened, and turned a shimmering purple. The black of the eyeball contracted and the pupil took on a normal, round shape for a second.

Silco's breathing quickened. He had to breathe through his mouth as if a flesh wound were compressing his lungs.
When the last drop of shimmer had flowed into his eye, you pulled the needle out again.

A gasp escaped him. His head fell forward as he had to hold his face.

Everything was spinning. The world seemed to shake like an earthquake.

You let go to give him a chance to writhe in his pain until it got better. Hastily you reached into the pocket of your coat to pull out painkillers.

But Silco grabbed you so hard by the wrist that you dropped the box of pills in shock.

"Don't!", he gasped, breathing heavily, his hand still pressed to his eye. "I have to get used to it."

"If it hurts, let me help.", you insisted.

But he shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he fell back into his chair. As his hand lowered, the eye reappeared, unchanged and just as fiery orange as before.

"It didn't work...", you muttered.

The sight disappointed you a little.

With the back of his hand Silco wiped a thin trace of shimmer from his cheek.

"It did.", he looked at you, his breathing calmed down again. "The burning pain is milder. And I can see you. Better than before."

Surprised, you leaned forward to test the reactions with a light. And indeed, the once brightness resistent eye moved as the light hit the pupil. The broken dot pulled together, trembled and reacted just the same way a normal pupil did.

"Huh...", you checked the scarring. "Not perfect but a start..."

"Indeed.", he let out a breath of relief. "Well done, Samaritan. You proved that you are just as good as the rumours say. Maybe even better."

"We will see about that. The scars are... unchanged as far as I can tell."

His fingers stroked over the rough, greyish skin.

"As long as it won't grow further I will be satisfied."

"We don't know if it will. We also don't know how often you need this treatment."

At the thought of having to go through this procedure again, everything inside of him pulled together.

Silco wasn't a soft man, he knew that certain things demanded prices and he was willing to pay. But at the same time he had to admit that this was far from pleasant and even further from simple suffering.

For a moment, he had to lean back and calm his heart down. Adrenalin was still rushing through his veins. His heart was beating like crazy.

"So.", he threw a glance over to you, his hand still resting on your thigh. "How often do you suggest doing this?"

Biting your lips, you stared at his scarred side of the face.

"We will have to keep an eye on the scarring and see if it worsens together with the condition of the eye or not.", you thought out loud while already thinking about what adjustments were needed to improve the sample. "If it's not connected to each other I might need to find a second solution. Two treatments. As for the eye... inform me when the pain returns. That's usually a sign for the medication wearing off."