Traumatizing (and untraumatizing) The Woz

You Don't Need To Hide Yourself For Me

Synopsis: Woz had tried so hard to hide something from everyone. He had convinced himself the worst-case scenario would happen if they found out. And yet, when it does finally come out, the reactions are everything but what Woz had expected

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He always knew that one day it would come out. Woz wasn't that optimistic to think he could keep hiding this forever. He wished he could have, though. Because now... he had to deal with the reactions to what he had kept a secret and Woz had learned to expect the worst.

"What do you mean you can't hear?!"

Woz had kept it a secret from everyone for as long as he could. He had managed to adapt and act as though he could still hear. All of those he interacted with from the past had not the slightest clue he never heard a word they said. No one was any the wiser to just what was going on with him.

Now, did that mean no one knew something was up with him? No. Woz knew most people were aware he had something going on. The way he responded to things asked to him was not normal. He knew that. But, most people just assumed it was how he liked to act. Woz did try to always make it as natural as possible to explain away any delayed or unusual reactions he had to things.

And yet, now it was all crashing down. He had been caught. And there really was no way to lie about it.

Sougo, Geiz, and himself had been fighting some Another Rider once more. Woz hadn't heard a call of alarm and got hit. The force of the blow had disoriented him enough he couldn't focus on anything to lipread as he had grown used to. So, he had to yell that he couldn't hear what they were saying. Make them stop yelling words at him that he couldn't understand.

It had been a few hours now. Woz vaguely recalled passing out from the pain and then he woke up back at the house. He was in his room. He had gone down to see if the others were there and now he was sat at the table and being interrogated.

"I... am sorry for keeping this from you, my demon king..." Woz responded to Sougo's outrage.

Was outrage the right word though? Sougo didn't seem mad. He moreso seemed genuinely worried about Woz. Woz wasn't entirely sure what Sougo was thinking of everything. He wished he did know.

"When did you lose your hearing? You could hear when we were in the Resitance together, right?" Geiz questioned him. There was confusion on his face.

"After I... went to Oma Zi-O... I was tortured at first and... one of those times it cost me my hearing." Woz explained. He would rather not talk about his past, but knew he had no choice. He couldn't lie his way out of this.

"And you've just been pretending that nothing is wrong?" Sougo said, "You idiot! You're lucky it took until now for something bad to happen because of it!"

Woz was confused by the scolding. Why was he being scolded for not telling them? Shouldn't they be scolding him for telling them? That was how he had always been treated before so... why were they not doing the same?

"Woz? Why did you hide it from us anyway?" Tsukuyomi questioned him now.

Woz didn't know how to begin to answer that question. How did he put into words the fear he had of being tossed aside as useless because of being disabled like this? How did he tell them the abuse he suffered by Oma Zi-O's hands until he conformed back to acting like a hearing person?

"I was afraid you would look down on me..." Woz directed those words mostly to Sougo.

"Eh? Why would I do that? You shouldn't have to suffer for my sake." Sougo replied. "I don't understand."

Woz didn't understand either. Sougo didn't care? Didn't mind if he couldn't hear him? But... but Oma Zi-O...

"I... do not wish to talk about this anymore tonight. Please, leave me alone." Woz stood up and left the house.