𝐛𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐲 // 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

───── ❝ 𝟑𝟕 ❞ ─────

-

You woke up early the next morning, not wasting any time before getting dressed and running to the hospital, grabbing a can of beer on the way out.

You hoped it would make whatever news you walked in on more manageable.

It's not that you didn't think of Noriaki as a valuable asset to the team, as well as a great partner. However,if you could have any excuse to keep him in the hospital or send him home to recover, you were taking it. In your head, you'd convinced yourself that it made you an awful person. Wanting and wishing for him to take an extra long time to recover, or possibly not recovering at all, it seemed wrong. But, at the end of the day, you knew you had your reasons. Your reasons would keep him out of harms way.

You slipped out of the room, Jotaro not even stirring as you left.

You cracked open the can, lighting a cigarette and resting it in your hand as you walked downstairs and through the lobby.

You pushed in the swivel door, emerging on the other side and immediately feeling the oppressive heat hit your skin.

You were definitely used to it, and where you were was further from the equator than Cairo was.

You walked to the hospital, eventually flagging down and hitching a ride on an off-roader that let you sit on the back. The vehicle's other passengers were giving you weird looks, looks you couldn't really place.

You paid the driver with the few remaining piastre coins you had in your pocket, discarding your beer can in the trash outside the hospital and putting your cigarette out on an ashtray in the same spot.

You walked in, heading straight upstairs.

The nurse at the front desk informed you that the only one awake was Muhammad, and that he was rather energetic.

You walked in, he looked you up and down and winced, similarly to the people from the car.

You were more than aware of the effect using your stand had on your body. It made you look like a huge bruise, well, rather than one massive bruise, they littered your body from head to toe. Blood vessels rising to the final layer between your flesh and skin, it didn't hurt, but it did make you look like the walking dead. It usually developed after a while of intense usage, but you couldn't remember using your stand too intensely recently.

Your stand was a godsend more often than not, but when it did hinder you, it hindered you.

"Have you seen yourself?"

He swung his legs out of his bed and walked over to you.

He picked up your arms, intently observing them.

"I try not to look," you laugh.

He points you in the direction of the corner where there's a sink and mirror.

Your skin was tinted noticeably darker in blotches along your neck and arms, and if you were to check down your shirt you'd probably see more of it.

Usually when this happens, he'd call the foundation and request you not work for a few days. It was a nice, albeit unwelcome, break. However, there was no time to exactly take that break now.