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↳ in which, he couldn't tell if he was the one that needed therapy, or her
fluff
warnings : mentions of drinking, drugs, gangs, death, anxiety
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"HE THINKS THERAPY'S STUPID AND I DONT NEED IT." rindou mumbled, fiddling with his fingers while the girl in front of him hummed.
he was talking about his older brother to his therapist. he was always nervous talking to her- not because she was gonna judge him, she's not allowed to that's her job or course.
no, he was nervous because she was so damn pretty.
"and how does that make you feel?" she asked, fixing her glasses that were slowly falling down her nose.
"i don't know," he mumbled, shrugging. "indifferent."
"that's not true." she stated quickly, making eye contact with the male in front of her. he sat on a couch in her office, shoes off while he sat criss crossed.
she encouraged him to always be comfortable; being comfortable always allowed people to talk. and that's what they were here for, talking.
"how're you gonna tell me?" rindou huffed, raising an eyebrow while running a hand through his hair. he didn't make eye contact with her anymore, looking at the picture on her wall behind her.
"body language. you're looking at the picture not me, hand just ran through your hair, and you haven't fixed your glasses." she hummed, pointing her pen at the male.
"how come you know everything about me but, i know nothing about you?" he hummed while she chuckled at his subject change.
she looked at her watch, 20 minutes left.
"switch seats." she stated, standing up and changing notepads. she handed him a blank one while he sat down in her usual seat; notepad and pen like he was the therapist. "last 20 minutes, we'll talk about me."
she took off her shoes, getting comfortable on the couch and sighing before smiling softly at rindou who was shocked this actually worked.
"uh- okay um..." he stuttered, thinking of the first questions she'd ever ask him. "um.. how was your childhood?"
she smiled tiredly, sighing with a dry chuckle and closing her eyes. she thought the best way to gain trust was to be honest.
"oh where to start, where to start." she sighed, tilting her head back. "mother alcoholic who was addicted to any drug she could consume. father was absent then died when i was 9? 10 maybe."
rindou frowned, paying attention but still writing down notes- he's seen her do this and it usually helps her remember things to talk about with him.
"dropped out of highschool, followed my mothers path of drinking and drugs until i watched my best friend die." she sighed, the same tired smile never leaving her face.
it was always soft, reminiscent. he'd never seen her smile in such an ungenuine way.
"it wasn't from drugs- well, it was. she was in a relationship with a drug dealer who was also in a gang, something along those lines. gang fights, guns, drugs, bam- she's dead." she chuckled to brighten the mood a little. rindou nodded slowly, seeing this was her coping mechanism.
she tells him that laughing at unfortunate events after getting over them is a good coping mechanism- or at least better than most of his.
"after that, got my life together, finished highschool, got my diploma, and ended up here helping you." she ended, genuinely smiling at the blonde and blue haired male who was in shock.
he couldnt even think of any words to say, he just kinda sat there. blinking. staring at the notes he'd written down.
"oh, sessions up." y/n hummed, standing up and sighing before patting her pencil skirt. "see you next week?" she asked.
"oh- uh, yeah.. of course." he nodded slowly, getting up from the seat and handing her the pencil and notepad. "thanks, for this." he stated shyly.
she laughed, full blown laughter.
"don't thank me silly! it's my job!"
——-
"why do you keep going to this girl? you fuckin' her or some?" ran huffed, dropping his brother off in front of the therapy clinic. rindou sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance at his older brothers assumptions.
"maybe if you went to therapy once in a while, you would understand why i go to her every week." rindou stated, walking away before his brother could come back with some stupidity.
he walked into the girls office they was still dark. no light shone anywhere, and he wasn't even sure if y/n was there herself. but, in her defense, he was a minute early.
he awkwardly cleared his throat when he closed the door behind him, slowly tapping the wall in order to find a light switch of some sort.
"h-hey," he sighed, his voice cracking which made him feel vulnerable. "y/n?" he said again, no response. he finally found the light switch, flicking it on to see the girl with her head down on her desk; hair sprawled everywhere and her glasses flung on the other side of the room.
paper work was everywhere on the floors, on the chairs, even on her bookshelf that was usually neatly organized. rindou frowned. he'd always seen her as an easy to talk too person with little to no hardship going on in her life, but looking around the disastrous room he could tell she was stressed.
an alarm went off, blaring into her ear which made her head shoot up from the desk in a panic. she frantically searched for the phone when she sighed with her eyes shut, turning the annoying noise off before looking over at her door after sensing another presence.
"oh!" she stated, surprised and very embarrassed at the state her room was in. "sorry, um, let me just... clean this up." she nervously chuckled, getting up from her seat and picking up paperwork from all over before stepping on her glasses. she cursed, before picking them up and looking around for a broom.
she spotted it in the corner, as she walked towards it. her bare foot met the glass of her broken contact lenses since she was only wearing one shoe; making her curse yet again.
"um," rindou started awkwardly noticing she was on the verge of tears. "i can always.. come back later.. or next week."
"oh no no, get comfortable! i- um, i'll be with you in just a minute." she stated, hurriedly picking up the files from the couch and her usual chair for rindou to sit on.
when walking up towards his usual seat, he saw his notepad with the notes he'd taken about her from last time they talked. he assumed she needed someone to talk to more than ever right now, so building up confidence, he grabbed her arm which caught her attention.
the look on his face was serious, which intimidated her in a way.
"sit." he simply said, taking the files from her hands without looking at them. he placed them neatly on her desk, grabbing a pen and his notebook before sitting in her usual comfy chair. "what's up?"
she sighed, sitting down on the couch; her eyes going glossy as she carefully took out pieces of small glass from her foot. if he asked why she was crying, she'd just say her foot hurt.. that was her excuse. but she knew it wouldn't fly for long.
"stress. my mother got in contact with me after 17 years of leaving me to rot. my boyfriend broke up with me, but i guess that's for the best." she rolled her eyes, "i have so many patients paperwork to catch up with, two of them are leaving because they don't need therapy anymore, and to make everything worse my hamster died."
rindou exhaled. he didn't want to make eye contact with the girl because he didn't want to see her cry. her voice was shaky, but she'd finally finished getting all the glass out her foot.
"let me wrap it for you." he stated, she made a confused hum before he gestured to it. "your foot. where's your first aid kit?" he asked. she told him where to find it, which he did, and helped her clean up her bloody foot.
he sat criss crossed it front of her while she winced at the string of alcohol touching the open wound.
"what did your mom say?" he asked cautiously, since it was a sensitive subject.
"just talking bullshit. i miss you so much y/n, and i will forever love you." she mocked, scoffing. "if that shit was true she wouldn't have chosen drugs over her own fucking daughter."
rindou hummed to acknowledge he was listening while he slowly wrapped the girls foot.
"but this sessions about you, come on. switch place-" she started, trying to get up before rindou lightly pushed her to sit back down.
"you're stressed, y/n. you might as well get it all out now before you have 3 million other patients and their problems." he sighed, picking up the notepad once more to take notes while the two talked.
———-
"what do you exactly do? for a living?" y/n asked. it was the next week, meaning the next session.
y/n was feeling better, mentally. she was in a better mood than last week, and even scheduled an appointment to meet up with her mom.
rindou, on the other hand, was a mess. after hearing y/n's relationship with his mother he realized that could be anyone. that could be his brother.
his brother could so willingly just put him off on the side of the street just for drugs right now, and come back 17 years later like nothing happened.
what would he do without ran in his life?
with that forever being on his mind, the traumatic experience with gangs was starting to catch up with him.
he was always in gangs, he never thought any harm about it. he was a sadist, he liked seeing others hurt. but he wasn't one for killing. maybe break a few bones and put you in the hospital, but he didn't like taking lives or being in and out of jail.
"i can't... fully say." he mumbled, "my head hurts." he changed subject quickly, ignoring her questioning glance. she'd gotten new glasses, or maybe they were old considering they looked dusty and unworn.
she sighed, knowing she'd get no where with that conversation for the upteenth time but, she'd try again in two more weeks.
she got up from her seat, and slowly walked over to rindou before bending down to meet his height.
"where?" she asked before he slightly winced at the increase in pain.
"right-" he started, moving his hands up but before he could get them 1/4 of the way up, he was cut off.
"here?" she asked, placing her two thumbs on the outside of his forehead; right before where his temple started. he nodded slowly, kind of amazed at how she knew that.
and amazed at how she looked. he stared in awe at her glowing skin and sparkling eyes. to think she was having a mental breakdown just the other week.
she slowly moved her thumbs in circles, adding pressure to where the pain was and massaging it slowly and soothingly.
"deep breaths." she exclaimed, smiling at the male & showing off her bright, sparking white teeth. it was breathtaking. "i said deep breaths haitani, not stop breathing." she chuckled, rindou realizing he did stop breathing and his headache had soothed down to a light pressure.
"oh-" he stated, breathing normally again. "thanks," he mumbled, looking off and ignoring her eye contact before her head popped back into view.
"you're welcome!" she beamed, "thank you!"