𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝜊𝑛²

you're struggling, but it'll be alright

Look, my writing style has changed, and that night make this a little disjointed but this is as good as it's going to get and I don't want to put off publishing this anymore :(

//3rd Person//
It's hard for a while, as expected, but Kevin is there for you every step of the way, or at least he tries to be.

For the first few weeks after getting released from the hospital Kevin insists on doing everything for you, even if it ruins his upload schedule and, naturally, it leads to a few arguments.

It's just, well, you're stressed, you're in pain and you agreed to press charges. So you've got a court date coming up in a couple of months and you'll have to see that asshole, Craig, again. (and he plead not guilty to the assault, like the asshole he is.) So while Kevin may not deserve all your frustration, it's not like you can aim it at anyone else. Especially when he's insisting you stay in the apartment while you recover.

It's weird, you're not used to being looked after like this, you're not entirely sure you like it. It's like your roles have been reversed, it's not you babying Kevin anymore, it's not you checking that he's taken his painkillers, or that he doesn't fall asleep on the couch and wake up in the morning with worse back pain than before.

It's Kevin, insisting that you stay in bed while he goes to cook breakfast, because how could you possibly cook with your hand all bandaged up like that? He nearly sets the apartment on fire, twice, before he decides you'll both have to manage with toast every morning until he deems you healthy enough to cook. He can cope with a toaster, barely, you're still concerned he'll find some way to blow it up.

This leads to you having to take out every night, and sure, that's fine for the first week, who doesn't want McDonald's for two nights in a row? But after that, it's a little too much, because no one is built to eat that much unhealthy food for such long periods, even Kevin has to admit that at some point during week two of recovery.

And look, it's not like you're dying, or even as if you've broken a bone, Kevin is overreacting, you tell yourself. He thinks you're just stubborn, and maybe the way it still hurts to swallow proves that, but you're not one to back down that easily.

Besides, it's not like you need to breathe properly to cook, and you can walk yourself around the apartment just fine, even if it feels like you're breathing through one lung when you do. So really, the Kevin-O'Reilly-taxi-service where he supports you as you walk around everywhere is really unnecessary. It's also a little embarrassing at times, because who wants to be ushered to the bathroom every time you need to pee?

You bring this up to him at the end of week two. You bring up that he's being too careful, that you aren't going to shatter like glass when he touches you. That, despite what he must think, you aren't going to have a panic attack when you're left alone for too long. ("seriously Kevin, that was one time!") It's frustrating, this feeling of helplessness, you need your independence back, even just a little. Kevin disagrees.

"So it was okay for you to baby me when I was injured but when I do it I'm taking away your independence?" Kevin snaps out the same question he did the last three times you had this argument.

"I didn't stop you from working! I trusted you enough to sit in a room alone without having a breakdown!" You retort, despite saying it all before.

"I work from home, you work across town! And I do trust you, I'm just worried!" And he has a point, a good one, but you don't think he understands how frustrating this is, even if deep down you know he gets it completely.

At some point, during the third week, he breaks, he lets you cook breakfast, and eggs have never tasted so good. It's in that same week you go out shopping for groceries with him, and you think you understand why he was so hesitant to let you. You see all the concerned looks people shoot you when they notice the fading bruises around your neck, you notice the glares they shoot Kevin. It occurs to you that maybe Kevin wasn't being over the top with his concerns about you leaving the house, that maybe he just didn't tell you the real reason he was worried.

It makes you feel a little nauseous then, when Kevin steps away into another aisle to pick up some more bread while you look for ice cream and a store attendant comes up to you, asking if you need any help getting away. It doesn't occur to you straight away that she means away from Kevin as if he could ever leave those marks on you and it almost makes you laugh. When you assure her five times, that you're fine, that it wasn't him, that he's a nice guy, yes, really, she finally leaves and Kevin returns, as though he was waiting for the right moment to pop back up. Neither of you comments on it as you pay for your products, or when you get back in the car, or even when you return home, but you know Kevin must have seen her. That he must know what she was insinuating.

It's a good thing, really, that there are people out in the world that care, who are willing to check and make sure you're okay but somehow it doesn't seem fair. The same man who's uprooted his whole life to care for you is the man getting accused of hurting you and why? Because he's a man? Because he was willing to drive you to go shopping? Because he insisted on coming with you to make sure you're okay?

That night, for the first time in a week, you don't argue. He doesn't snap at you when you go to shower without telling him where you are going first, and you don't yell at him when he insists on helping you with making dinner in any way he can. (Even if his helping is making thinks ten times worse.)

That night, when you curl up in bed with him, you wrap your arms around him and squeeze as tight as you can. When he mutters into your hair that he loves you, you pull yourself up to kiss him and show him just how much you love him too. Because despite all the arguing, despite how hard it's been you do, you love him more than you think you'll ever be able to put into words.

He hopes you know he loves you just a much in return, because he does and he's been trying to prove that in any way he can. Even if his ways of proving it usually end up with you being more annoyed than endeared, he hopes you know how much he's trying.

A/n ~I just want to say a big thank you to morelikeboreragnarok and marksepticeye (I think I have already but it's fine) because they are like my two biggest motivators and I probably wouldn't still be writing at all on here without them.

They both have Kevin books so check them out! :))

I think I'll add like one more chapter to this, like a little epilogue after the court case, and then be done with it? But then I don't wanna end on an odd number so that sucks :(((