Please Choose Me

How Can I Tell You?

!!TW!! Description of injuries/medical drugs, confusion caused by medicine, vomit, slight panic attack

The first thing he notices, odd enough, isn't the pain. Nor is it the bright lights or the fuzzy feeling under his skin. In fact, the first thing Josuke notices is the grating sound of fingers punching into a keyboard. In the journey of trying to open his eyes, his vision swam, and his eyes rolled around his skull. Everything hurt, but at the same time he couldn't really believe that he was in his own body.

"Josuke? Can you hear me?" He must have made a noise or something since the sound of typing ceased, and someone spoke. It was a familiar sound, a deep one that Josuke had grown acquainted with over the few months. "Shit, he's awake. Go get the doctor."

The voice wasn't making sense, but Josuke didn't have time to do anything about it when a hand gently touched his shoulder. And it was like the boy was slammed back into his body, pain rocketing him back to Earth. He must have moved since the hand pushed him a little harder back into the bed, but all Josuke could do was gasp as his muscles burned .

"You're okay. Just breathe Josuke. Can you open your eyes?" The voice was low, but something felt urgent about it. Like the tone was off, slightly pinched and shaky in a way that felt wrong. But he couldn't open his eyes. He didn't want to. Josuke just wanted to go back to sleep so the pain would go away.

Every breath was torture, his chest screaming in defiance. And each time his body twitched felt like his skin and muscles were being ripped from bone. Everything felt wrong and all Josuke could do was pray that he would faint.

The hand shook him a little and it felt like hell. A high keening sound reached his ears, and it took a second for Josuke to realize that the sound came from him . And, like a rush of an ocean's raging tide, the crazed sound of the room slammed into his ears. His harsh breathing, the man's urging voice, beeping machines, his own cries, Josuke could hear all of it.

His hand came up to grab the one on his shoulder, his grip weak and trembling and finally Josuke forced his eyes to open. His held breath released with a harsh gasp as his vision swam with bright lights. It took a few pained seconds before the lights dimmed and shapes formed in his sight.

"Good job, kiddo. Just breathe, we'll get you more pain meds in a second." A familiar man with a familiar hat looked down at him with a lazy expression but something about his face felt fragile, like his perfectly built calm was ready to shatter any second. "How're you feeling?"

Stupid question for a man with a stupid hat, Josuke hummed.

"Like shit." His lips barely moved over the words, his throat catching and the sound dragging painfully. His eyes pinched as he took in the man's features and as he looked at the severe expression, something finally clicked. "Mr. Jotaro?"

Something that threatened to become a smile passed over the man's face and Josuke's eyes fluttered. This was the hardest thing he's ever done. It felt like someone was trying to physically drag him back to the darkness, and with the amount of all-consuming pain, he was inclined to let them. Jotaro's hand left the boy's shoulder, his eyes looking pained as his warm palm patted the child's cheek.

"That's right. Good job, Josuke." The man huffed, cupping the back of the kid's head as he guided him to sit up. Josuke wasn't sure if he could hurt anymore but he was surprised by the pain that rocketed through his body as he bent over himself. It felt like his muscles were being torn away from his bone and he panicked for a moment. "Sorry, too much. I should have gone slower."

Bleary blue eyes rolled and Josuke feared that he would faint before he could be given the painkillers, but Jotaro's steady hand brought him back down to Earth once more. The pain was like a being, solid and sturdy against the boy's ribs. And for the life of him he couldn't make out what was going on. Everything felt wrong, like it was out of place. Like it was a puzzle that Josuke just had to figure out.