ex-husband

are you okay ?

Satoru liked a lot of things. He had a very long list.

Sweets, Asian-Kung-Fu Generation, his daughter, Digimon, you (not in that particular order).

He didn't like to talk about the things he hated because just thinking about those things made him stress. And sure, his hair couldn't turn anymore white (even though you once insisted that you saw a whiter hair on his head and made him panic for hours), but his head sure could hurt.

There were casualties, even though he was present.

He buried his face into the collar of his uniform, hiding his whole face to try and hide the fact that he was seething. His teeth were clenched as Ijichi listed out all the things that had gone wrong. All for what? Satoru didn't even kill the curse that hurt you.

Once the meeting was over (and basically nothing was resolved), Satoru immediately made his move to get up and leave the room. Utahime followed after quickly, having to walk quicker to keep up with Satoru's long strides.

"You know they're fine, right? Shoko's with all of them."

Satoru hummed absentmindedly, still hurrying along.

Utahime looked up at him warily. "And she's fine, too."

Satoru slowed down a little, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I know."

"So, why are you worried?"

Satoru huffed, shoving his hands further down his pockets. "I can't be worried about my wife?"

The words died in his throat as he said that last word.

He stopped, and so did Utahime, as she shook her head at his downcast expression. "You can be worried about her. But you know she's alright so... calm down."

"Yeah." He nodded. "Alright."

As the two of them neared the door of the recovery rooms, a voice behind them called out their names.

Satoru and Utahime's heads whipped around at the sound of your voice.

You were hurrying forwards, a pizza box in your hands. "Sorry! Could you hold the door open for me?"

The two gaped at you, as you smiled widely and practically skipped over. Satoru's arms waved around, as he stood there unsure of what to do with himself. Utahime rolled her eyes and grabbed the pizza box from your hands.

"Why aren't you resting?"

Satoru nodded vehemently. "Yeah, what she said."

You rolled your shoulders, practically bragging about the decent shape you were in. "Shoko's good at what she does, what can I say?"

"You should still be resting," Satoru insisted, glancing down at the arm that was bleeding out not too long ago. You used the hand to cover the arm that Satoru was clearly intensely staring down at.

Utahime agreed with him. "We would've got you the pizza."

"Oh, it wasn't too much work, Nobara ordered and I just met the delivery guy up front."

Satoru raised a brow. "You have to be careful, you know? There's..."

He saw Utahime look up at him warily, from the corner of his eye. You weren't in the room during the meeting, and everyone in the room had agreed to keep the circumstances of the stolen cursed objects, a secret.

Satoru sighed, annoyance seeping through his tone. "Just be careful, alright?"

You nodded slowly. "Alright. You... you should be, too."

Utahime snorted. "With his constant bragging about being the strongest, it'd be nice to see him get a little cut once in a while."

You hummed absentmindedly, before bringing the attention back to the pizza. "It's gonna get cold and Nobara will kill me, let's go give it to them." As you pushed Utahime ahead, Satoru hung back behind the door.

Satoru heard the loud cheers from Yuji and Nobara due to the arrival of the pizza, and he knew he couldn't match their energy at the moment. He tugged at his blindfold, preoccupied with thoughts about the aggravating high level curses.

He didn't know how long he stood there for, but he knew it wasn't long. You peeked your head out, looking up at him, clearly worried about his state. Satoru forced a quick grin. "Hey. They like the pizza?"

You closed the door quietly, nodding, but quickly moving onto what you wanted to talk to him about. "I'm worried."

Satoru folded his arms. "Why?"

"I'm worried because these curses are clearly smart... and they clearly know too much about you."

Satoru's jaw clenched. His perfect set of teeth were going to be ruined with all the clenching he was doing today. "Yeah... looks like they do." Satoru sighed, rubbing his temple. "Are you worried about Kiyo?"

"Of course," you whispered. "But..." Satoru's heart pounded. Were you worried about him, too?

You shook your head, not finishing your sentence. Satoru's heart hurt.

You looked up at him, very serious. "Just... please tell me about things like this. You don't have to carry the burden on your own, you know?"

Satoru nodded slowly, but he kept his mouth shut. He glanced back down at your previously injured arm. "Is that really okay?"

He noted the hesitant twitch in your lips before you smiled. "Yeah, of course."

Satoru whispered your name. You didn't look up at him, knowing that his expression would be one of pity or disbelief. He sighed. "If you want me to tell you things... I need to, at the very least, know that you and Kiyo are okay. I could always take Kiyo for a few days while you heal--"

"No, it's alright," you said, quickly shooting him down. "I can call Nanami or Yu for that... um, but, yeah, you're right. My arm isn't completely healed." At the sight of Satoru chewing his lip slightly, you shook your head. "It's not bad at all! Just a slight ache really. Like I said, Shoko's great." You took a deep breath after rushing all your words, and smiled up at him softly. "I'm okay. I promise."

Satoru's chest eased up. He hadn't even noticed this feeling before -- it felt like some type of pressure was taken away from his lungs by your beautiful smile.

(Satoru would not come to realize that you took his breathe away until he gushed about your precious smile to someone later).