The Dying of the Light

Chapter 7

"Knock knock~~!"

You jolted awake, looking towards the window. The light indicated it was sometime in the early evening, and you realized that you'd been in bed for the better part of the entire day. As was the norm now whenever you opened your eyes, the memories came flashing back at once, unwelcomed, unrestrained, and gut-wrenching. You inhaled harshly, pulling your legs into your chest and burying your face into your pillow.

You heard Megumi walk towards the door, and you resisted the urge to tell him not to answer it, but you also knew the owner of the voice was not one to be deterred easily.

"Yeah?" Megumi asked tiredly, his voice unusually hoarse as he pulled the door open in a reluctant welcome.

Gojo walked straight past him, ignoring the sigh of annoyance as he messily shucked his shoes against the wall, one at a time, and set a plastic take-away bag on the desk nearest the bed.

"I brought dinner, since I know neither of you have left the room at any point today. You need to eat," Gojo said, his tone serious once again. You ignored him completely, focused only on keeping your breathing steady. He paused, raising an eyebrow at you. "Nice makeup job," he said sarcastically.

You remembered your painstaking cover-up job, and reached for the small handmirror you kept in your bedside drawer. Expecting catastrophe, you eyed yourself in the glass, but breathed a sigh of relief as you saw it was all relatively intact. In your line of work, it would be ridiculous not to buy the most waterproof, long lasting types of makeup available, a fact that paid off now.

Megumi approached the bed, sitting down on it with a groan. He was exhausted. You'd put him to bed beside you, and he had essentially passed out immediately. You had fallen flat beside him, crying yourself quietly to sleep as you struggled to keep the guilt and shame to a minimal level in order to be able to pass out too. You hadn't heard Megumi wake up, being as out of it as you were that day, and wondered if he'd actually managed a restful sleep. Now he reached for the bag, pulling it closer and peering inside. It smelled good, if you were being honest, but you felt there would be no way to keep any of it down, and you wondered how to gracefully decline.

"Thanks, Gojo," Megumi said, pulling out a bento box. "Come on babe, sit up. You haven't eaten a thing today."

You rolled your eyes. You should have tried to pretend to stay asleep, even knowing that it would never fly. There would have been no way for you to feign sleep from either of those guys, and decided to marry a non-sorcerer in your next life.

"I'm good, thanks, but you go ahead," you said in quiet tones. "Thanks, Toru." You realized too late that you had used your causal, non-teacher name for Gojo. He ignored it, and you could hear him happily rootling around in the bag to pull out the mochi he'd brought for dessert, throwing a piece into his mouth and chomping down on it obnoxiously as he turned around to face you.

"Chase, if you haven't had a thing to eat today, you should really have something now," he said, mouth full of food. "I know we take for granted how easily we're able to heal from our injuries with someone like Shoko around, but since you're avoiding treatment, you have to eat to heal and function. A car without gas can't run, right?"
You merely grunted, refusing to move.

Gojo sighed, pressing on. "How are you feeling now overall, Kitten?" he asked, and you shrugged.

"Mm'okay," you said softly. "Nothing but a scratch. I'll be okay," you insisted for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"Yeah, sure," Gojo said, sighing again. You could imagine with perfect clarity the frown on his face as he ran his fingers through his silky white tresses.