Did I startle you? { Juuzou x Reader }

[Chapter 4] Hospitalisation.

Darkness. Silence. It was as if I was dead, but my brain was still active. I started to question everything. Where was I? Am I alive? How long have I been like this? Just then, memories of when I was last conscious flood into my head. I don't want to open my eyes. I don't want to come back to reality yet. Instead, I just listened to the conversation that was being had beside me.

"I'm sorry sir, visiting hours are finished. If you leave your contact information here we can call you if we see a change in her state."

I don't recognise that voice. Who could it be? A doctor possibly?

"I'd much rather stay with her. Who said I could trust you with (y/n)?"

Is that Juuzou's voice? Shortly after I heard a sigh from which I could assume was the doctor.

"I'll have a nurse bring you a blanket."

Ugh. Why are you doing all of this Juuzou? At this point, my emotions got the best of me and a tear rolled down my seemingly unconscious face.

As soon as the tear reached my jawline, I could feel crimson pupils burning into me. He knew.

A few more years ran down my face before I gave in and opened my eyes. As expected, Juuzou was there looking at me. His under eye bags seemed significantly darker than they usually were.

I sat up, staying silent and pulled my knees to my face to cover the fact that tears were invading my face. Somehow, Juuzou still managed to catch a glimpse of my face and pulled me into an awkward hug. It was apparent that he was confused with my state. I could feel eyes burning into my back as Juuzou tried to lighten the mood.

"It was about time you woke up."

Silence filled the room after those words were uttered. I couldn't bring myself to respond; my body was filled to the brim of embarrassment and instability. It felt as if I would break down if I let any words escape my body. I held them prisoner in my head.

"You know, I was kinda worried about you back there. Let's try not to make that happen again."

He hugged me tighter as he said those words. As if he didn't want to let me go in case I attempted to start running again. In a way I felt imprisoned, but unusually safe at the same time. Somehow, a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.

"Are you going to speak anytime soon?" A questioning voice whispered in my ear. "Or are you just enjoying the sound of my awesome voice?"

Once came a snicker, then a giggle, then came full blown laughter between us. Tears were running a marathon down my face and my breath was unsteady, but somehow laughing made me feel less alone and upset, even if it was a slight change in my mood. I felt a smile against my face as Juuzou hugged me tighter slightly, then let go. 

"Now, are we gonna talk about this?" My mind was suddenly plagued with the memories, the child-like look in the ghoul's eyes, the pain in it's eyes.

"It called me a monster. Am I a monster?" I questioned blankly. I tried to keep a pokerface as to not worry him further. A scoff escaped Juuzou's lips.

"PFFFT! That is what you were freaking out about?" He erupted into laughter, only to be met with my unphased, serious expression, which he then mimicked in order to spare my feelings.

"I mean- no, not at all. Well.. come on, let's get you discharged."

I have to admit, that angered me slightly, but I decided to ignore the insult since I didn't have the energy to put up with it. So I got up, kicked Juuzou out of the room to get changed, got discharged and walked home with him. I stood at the door awkwardly for a good 30 seconds until Juuzou found his keys in his bag, one thing to mention about him is that he's terribly unorganised. After what seemed like an eternity , the door finally opened to the living room filled with fairy lights and semi cold pizza and candy waiting on the table to be eaten. I looked over to Juuzou and he shouted a little.

"Surprise!"

A smile tugged at my face as I walked in and looked around, it looked magical to say so myself. I sat down under the blanket folded on the couch and Juuzou snuggled up next to me slowly, as if he was testing the waters as to how far he could push my personal space. Usually, personal space is a pretty important thing to me, but I let it slide just this once. Surprisingly, he let me rent out a bunch of movies on his card, which was really nice of him. In fact, I ended up falling asleep in his arms after eating a few slices of pizza and a few candybars. 

After a night of somewhat blissful sleep I awoke to the sight of crimson orbs watching me from above. My eyes opened wider upon realising this, I realised Juuzou was sat there wide awake just, watching me. 

"Uh, good morning, what's up?"

His face seemed to regain it's familiarity and life upon me speaking, he came out of his trance and spoke with a hint of panic in his voice.  

"Oh, nothing. I was going to wake you up earlier, but your face is just, interesting, when you're asleep.."

I shrugged it off, as I was still pretty tired and my emotions were running wild. But to my surprise, I had to go back to work this morning. So me and Juuzou got ready, walked to work together, and parted our ways when we got inside, I was working on paperwork for my first few days back.

"Damn, what a start to this new job."