Forest of Horrors

Something Wicked This Way Comes (pt. 2)

Synopsis: Takatora learns about Ryouma's trauma through trial and error

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Ryouma knew that some day Takatora would begin to realize there was something wrong with him. As hard as he could try to hide the trauma of his past, there wasn't much he could do sometimes. There were things that he reacted to no matter how hard he tried to get over things.

The first occurrence that Ryouma could remember was not long after they first began working together. Takatora had to have noticed the way Ryouma reacted to his presence at times. How there was some fear when he quickly appeared.

That was something he got over. His feelings for Takatora were able to override the fear of seeing his father instead of him. That issue was long gone.

However, even to this day, the mere mention of Amagi in any capacity made him panic. Ryouma couldn't escape the thoughts of that man. Couldn't stop thinking of what he had done.

Takatora rarely spoke of his father, if at all. When Ryouma finally admitted that Amagi was a subject he wanted to avoid, all mention of the man ceased. Ryouma had been surprised when he finally realized that had happened. The fact that Takatora was willing to so easily stop doing something just because it made him uncomfortable was not something Ryouma ever expected.

Those things were both easy to explain without going into any detail. Unfortunately, they were the only things like that. Every other thing that set Ryouma off had a lot harder of a time to explain.

The first instance was when Takatora had wrapped his arms around Ryouma from behind with no warning. It was just a small gesture and yet Ryouma completely froze up. His mind had instinctively gone to the countless times he had been grabbed from behind by people he wished he could forget.

"Ryouma? Are you alright?" Takatora asked, letting go of him.

Ryouma was struggling to find a voice to reply with. He tried to calm himself. It was just Takatora. He was safe. No one was trying to hurt him. There was no reason to be so panicked.

"I... I'm fine... you just- just caught me off guard..." Ryouma finally got out.

"Are you sure?" Takatora stood in front of him now, looking him over with a worried gaze.

"Y-yeah. Can you just... not touch me without me knowing...?"

Takatora nodded, but the worry in his eyes didn't lessen. Ryouma wasn't sure what else he could do. He wanted to not have Takatora worrying over him. He didn't want him to know just how broken he was inside. But, could he hide it enough?

...

Since that incident, Takatora had done well to make sure to never surprise him like that again. Ryouma was grateful. The less it happened, the more he could keep his composure.

There was a slight sense of annoyance, if that was the right way to describe it, over the change. Ryouma hadn't taken Takatora to be much for affection, but man was he subtly clingy. Always using any excuse to be near him and holding him. It was obvious the limitation of having to always be in sight was getting in the way of that, but yet he never once complained.

Ryouma thought that was the only other thing he had to worry about. Unfortunately, he had been wrong.

He hadn't even considered the possibility until it had happened. All he had wanted was to simply invite Takatora to stay the night. He had achieved that. It really hadn't been that hard to get him to agree.

Ryouma hadn't accounted for the fact that things could go wrong. He was so used to nightmares plaguing his vision whenever he slept he didn't even think about it. Until he woke up, jolting upright and gasping for breath, and had to deal with his boyfriend being worried.