Fire & Ice | Soulmate AU 1 |

chapter seventeen

I only need one more "physical therapy" session by the time the end of the week rolls around. Max decided last night that today would be a good time, so here I am, sitting on the couch across from him on the common floor while he runs through a list of things we could do.

"There's a pool in the tower, you know," he says matter-of-factly. "On the same floor as where we normally train, too. It could be nice. It'd be a good way to celebrate your graduation."

"My graduation," I say flatly.

"Yeah, c'mon, now, even though you only had two PT sessions, I think we need to celebrate. You did get shot, you know. You can stop acting like that's not a big deal. I've only been shot once and it was in the leg. You almost died. Twice."

Everyone keeps reminding me about how I almost died. It may be because I've been walking around the tower like an animated corpse lately, but still. I get it. I almost died. I needed blood transfusions and surgery and physical therapy. I was in a medically induced coma. Blah blah blah. I don't feel like it's a big deal, but that might have something to do with the fact that I haven't really been feeling much of anything lately. I never had a lot of time to process injuries when I was a kid, so maybe that has something to do with it.

The gunshot wounds have healed over. The scar tissue is still very dark pink so it's in the early stages, but at least they're not bleeding all over me anymore. That got old very fast. There are, however, two circular scars that have just joined the others on my chest.

"I, uh, I don't know, Max," I say, shifting around uneasily. I pick at the hem of my long-sleeved shirt and avoid looking at him.

He eyes me for a moment before he sighs that "I'm too old for this" sigh of his and finally says something.

"Listen, kid, if this is about the state of your torso, then don't even worry about it. Not with me. When they brought you into the ER, I mean, you were dying, so they obviously just ripped your shirt open and did their job." A flare of panic explodes through my insides. Who else saw? "And before you start, I was the only one who went with the ambulance crew. They'd only take one of us."

I breathe a silent breath of relief. Good.

"Just us?" I say quietly.

He flashes me a smile before jumping to his feet.

"Of course," he says. "C'mon, Ford!"

Max grabs a roll of clear saran wrap from the kitchen before he makes his way to this elevator with an air of determination. I still hesitate like I normally would when it comes to taking my shirt off in front of someone, but Max keeps a neutral expression on his face as he waits patiently. He wraps the portion of my chest with the gunshot wounds so that the chlorine doesn't fuck with them. Maybe we're being a little overly cautious, but I've been wrapping them up just to shower, as well, so this really shouldn't be any different.

Max basically tosses me into the pool once I'm finally ready to be exposed to water. I land in the deep end and swim all the way down to the bottom of the eight-foot portion. There are metal handles screwed into the floor of the pool in some parts that we can hold onto. I grab hold of one and take some time to look around. I've always enjoyed sitting at the bottom of swimming pools and just enjoying the otherworldly feeling.

I resurface once I inevitably start to run out of air. Max is floating around on an inflatable slice of pizza.

"You're more like a fish than I thought you'd be," Max says casually. "Then again, you are a water bender. Should be expected."