![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Who: Niou and Chitose Senri
When: 14th August
Where: Niou and Hiyoshi's room
What: Niou dislocates his shoulder and meets Chitose. He hates doctors
Shit shit shit. For all his joking about dislocating shoulders when climbing into the chicken house, Niou hadn’t thought it would actually happen. He swore under his breath as he made his way to his room and sent a message to… … Chitose Senri was a doctor, right? And maybe a better option than Yagyuu who would probably hit him to pop it back into place and then slap him on the shoulder. Dislocated my shoulder. In B2-01. Not coming to medbay and thank god Hiyoshi wasn’t in to judge when he got there and sat down on his bed with a groan.
Chitose was actually in medbay, doing what he could in the wake of the disaster that was Tachibana's kid. Mostly, it meant checking the equipment to make sure it still worked, and passing off anything that didn't to someone who could fix it. But he got a message on his communicator and oh! Something more productive to do! Although the double-edged nature of his work meant that when he had something to do, more often than not, someone was in pain. Reading through the message, he looked around and gathered up supplies. A sling, a few different types of painkillers, and a few other things, and packed them all into his trusty old-fashioned doctor bag, then grabbed the portable X-ray machine (which was thankfully still fully functioning). He sent off a quick message that he was on the way, hollered to anyone who cared to listen that he was off on a housecall, and headed up.
Once he'd made it up to the residential area, he knocked on the indicated door. "Dr. Chitose, at your service!"
Niou fidgeted with his communicator to distract his mind as he waited and god he should have sent the message before he’d left agri so he didn’t have as long to wait. And he sighed in relief at the knock, using the voice commands to open the door so he didn’t have to get up. “Hi,” Niou grimaced at Chitose and nodded his head at the chair at his desk. “You can bring that over.”
Chitose stepped in, ducking a little to make sure he didn't conk his head on the door frame. "So. Tell me how it happened," he began, getting right to business. He slid the chair over, just because between his height and his patient being seated, remaining standing would be really uncomfortable. The first thing he did was grab the portable X-ray and examine the clearly injured shoulder. Yep. That's dislocated alright.
Ah… he preferred Chitose when he wasn’t being a doctor on the journals, and was answering weird questions. Niou sighed and stayed carefully still for the X-ray. “Dislocated it trying to get into the chicken house,” he said with another sigh. “It’s a small entrance, and I just got stuck. Making a better human-sized entrance is on my to do list,” he added on, before Chitose could say anything.
Chitose blinked. "....Why were you trying to get into the chicken house?" he asked, purely out of curiosity. And because more casual conversation tended to help relax the patients. "Sounds like a strange thing to do." He put the X-ray machine away and pulled a few vials out of his bag. "...I'm afraid we're going to have to pop it back in…and it's not generally a pleasant experience, but the pain should fade a lot once it's done. So. You want something to dull the pain first? Or take your chances?"
“... To make sure nothing was broken in there and find any eggs?” Niou said, slowly as though Chitose was… stupid for asking. Why else would he go into the chicken house? “And it’s my job?” Well, not officially, since he wasn’t entirely a volunteer anymore. Kind of, he’d kicked the replacement volunteer out and trusted Yanagi to do something to that paperwork. Niou sighed and closed his eyes. “Just do it. I don’t need pain killers.”
Chitose just laughed at Niou's tone as he put the vials back. "You know, back home, my family was friends with someone who had a couple of chickens. Their chicken house had one entire wall on a set of hinges, so when they needed in there they could just open it up like a door…Thought it was pretty clever, myself." As he spoke, he gently helped Niou lie down on his bed. Then, he took the injured arm by the wrist and raised it perpendicular, pulling upwards. "They told us it was either that or build a whole new coop, big enough for them to walk into. The door thing was a lot easier, less time, less money, less resources needed." Once he'd raised the arm high enough, he rotated it…until he literally felt it when the bones popped back into place. "Ah, there we go."
“The plans for the chicken house were designed by an imbecile. And I haven’t had the time to build a new one or fix it.” And at the time, he hadn’t been attached enough to care about how stupid they were. He very reluctantly let Chitose guide him and bit back a pained groan as his arm was moved. Niou couldn’t hold back the pained scream as it was popped back in and bit down on his tongue, shoving off Chitose’s hand. Fuck fuck fuck. Ow. He gritted his teeth and rolled over onto his good side to curl up and try and breathe.
Chitose dug into his bag and pulled out a small vase with some diffuser sticks, then poured a bit of peppermint oil into the vase. It wasn't as effective for pain relief as topical application, but he really doubted Niou would let him touch the shoulder, at this point. "The worst of the pain should fade quickly, although your shoulder will still be sore for a while. In fact….maybe you can take advantage of the downtime you're going to have to take to design some changes to the chicken coop. Because you're out of commission for a while, now." He pulled out the sling, but for now, set it on Niou's desk next to the oil diffuser.
Now that the immediate sharp pain had passed, Niou gently touched at his shoulder, feeling the tenderness. He froze at the mention of downtime and reluctantly pushed himself up to sitting. And he noted the… vase on his desk and the weird smell in the air. “I’m not taking downtime,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I have two arms, and I can use them both.” He might just be a bit slower with one shoulder/arm out of commission, that was all.
Chitose took advantage of Niou's freezing to take another X-ray, confirming that the shoulder was, in fact, back in place. "No siree. Your arm needs to be in a sling for a minimum of two weeks. Full immobility. Then you can ease into some physical therapy to help regain muscle strength and range of motion. If you don't, you can potentially injure your shoulder even worse. Maybe even lose use of it, if it's bad enough." Chitose grinned a little, feeling a bit mischievous. "Don't make me ask Kippei to help you follow my directions."
Niou just gave Chitose the dirtiest look he could muster. “Surprise, I had no muscle strength to begin with, so there’s nothing to regain.” And the thought of ‘physical therapy’ just seemed horrific and like too much time around doctors. “I’m fine.”
He did not appreciate the use of Tachibana against him, although it definitely cleared up a lingering question from the start of Chitose coming in. “You figured out who I am,” he said, a bit of a grimacing smile all that he could muster up. “Nice to meet you properly in person, Chitose Senri.” Besides the glance through the window into isolation, he supposed.
"If you had no muscle strength to begin with, your arm would have been a useless appendage hanging at your side. So even if you didn't have much, you had some. Which means it can be lost, or improved." Chitose was totally not phased by the dirty look. He'd seen worse. "As for your identity…it's not hard. For one, there's only two names on the door. For two, I have cards of people owning both names, so I know you're not Hiyoshi. And three… Communicator messages aren't anonymous." He shrugged. He'd known before he even got to the door. "Nice to meet you, Niou Masaharu," he beamed.
He was filled with regret for this whole thing. Niou sighed in frustration and god, maybe he should have actually messaged Yagyuu for help. Or Atobe, who would have just probably strapped him up, given him a spray and kicked him out. “You seemed confused about why I was associating with the chickens.” He shrugged and winced at the movement of his shoulder. Niou sighed again and gingerly moved his arm. “Do you have actual pain killers?” he asked. “And don’t you dare use Tachibana against me.”
"Not associating. Just actually climbing inside the coop. Seemed an odd thing to do when there are other options. Bendy camera thing, maybe?" Chitose reached into his bag. Of course he'd brought actual meds, and not just his naturopathic remedies. As much as he preferred the herbal remedies himself, he was well aware that not everyone shared his preference. "I have a condition for giving them to you." He held up the bottle and shook it, pills rattling. "Let me put the sling on, properly."
“I don’t do logical things very often,” Niou said and once again, was filled with regret that he hadn’t stopped to consider the use of tech - hilarious, given that he’d built it. He glanced at the pill bottle and then to Chitose’s face, and then back to the pills. And god but it was tempting to just tell him to fuck off and die, especially with that sort of trade. It hurt, but he could go get ice. And go see someone else for the pain if he had to. But also, there was nothing stopping him from just taking off the sling once Chitose left. “Fine.”
Chitose hummed at Niou's answer, pouring out a dose of the pills and pulling a bottle of water from his bag. He opened the bottle, knowing Niou would be unlikely to manage without hurting himself, then handed both over to him. "Take these first, then I'll put the sling on. And…you'll be surprised. Having the sling on properly will help lessen the pain you feel, so it's worth keeping on even after I leave." Niou's dislike for doctors was well documented in his medical record, which Chitose had taken the time in the lift to look over. "Is it bad that I want you to take proper care of yourself? To let your shoulder heal the way it should, so you can go back to whatever constitutes a normal life for you?"
Niou looked suspiciously at the bottle and put it in between his thighs to hold. “Give me the lid,” he said, holding his hand out. Because he had to check it in case Chitose had slipped something into the bottle. The pills though… he scanned over Chitose’s face and glanced down at the bottle. And fuck it, he took the pills dry, swallowing and keeping a very close look on Chitose’s expression as he did so. The water seemed the more likely place to keep some sort of drug, if he was trying to be sneaky. Or the diffuser. “What do you think my ‘normal life’ is, then? And why do you care?”
Chitose went ahead and settled the sling on carefully, getting it into the exact right spot so the sling was holding all of Niou's arm's weight, allowing the shoulder to rest. "You can look over anything you want," he remarked, sticking a leg out and sliding his bag closer. Yes, he'd noticed the suspicion in the way Niou was looking at everything. "I don't have any secrets when it comes to how I practice medicine." Once he was absolutely certain the sling was situated right, he sat back down in the desk chair, slouching just a little. "I don't know what your normal life is. That's why I want you to get back to your normal. I won't presume that what's normal for me, or for your roommate, or anyone else here, is the same as what's normal for you. And I care, well…because I care. I know it sounds stupid and sappy, but I just want everyone to be able to live long, healthy, happy lives. And then, of course, there's also the bit about Kippei being my best friend, so anyone who's important to him is important to me, too."
He instantly hated the sling so much. Niou moved the bottle to the table next to his bed and leaned down to pick up the bag so he could go through it one handed. The diffuser reeds were looked at curiously, the bottle of oil sniffed and he sneezed instantly after. He glanced occasionally at Chitose as he spoke, much more interested in the bottles of painkillers in the bag that all rattled when he shook them. “I’m curious. How much did Tachibana tell you? I know that you two have definitely talked about me.” Because Chitose knew who he was.
Chitose shifted, getting up and turning the chair around, then settled into sitting on it backwards, his arms crossed over the back of it. "We've not talked about you quite as much as you might think. I know he's attracted to you, that he thinks you're smart, funny, and…how did he phrase it? Sharp as a tack, I think. He did also say that you have some issues, although he didn't elaborate." Honestly, even if Tachibana hadn't told him Niou had issues, the way he was rifling through Chitose's bag would've been a pretty big tip-off.
Oh, that was actually nice to know that Tachibana hadn’t shared too much about him and kept things private. … If Chitose was to be believed. And Tachibana hadn’t told Chitose to keep his blabbing a secret and this was all a cover story… Niou glanced at Chitose out of the corner of his eye suspiciously. “I think he was being a bit nice and… delicately worded about me,” Niou said with a laugh, pulling out the stethoscope and thermometer curiously. Such a boring doctor bag, really. Oh look, a pen. Niou spun that around his fingers. “I’ve heard so much about you on the other hand. That’s a bit worrying, actually.”
"Mm, maybe. But I'm glad, because it gives me a chance to get to know you myself, form my own opinions and all that." Chitose grinned, as much over Niou being good and not insisting on using his newly-reduced shoulder as he was over Tachibana talking about him. Things between them were definitely better than when he'd first arrived, but…they weren't the same. They wouldn't be, and that was okay, but it was weird to get used to. "I hope he's not telling you I'm crazy or something. I wouldn't put it past him."
"Oh no, I must be presenting an amazing image of myself to you," Niou said, sounding bored. "The crazy man in isolation, now with a dislocated shoulder. Oh and with an allergy to doctors. And all my medical problems." Because if he'd been in Chitose's position with access to medical details about people, he would have read them all.
He lined everything up neatly in front of him and went back to the bag, pulling out some generic boring bandages. "He seems very fond of you. And regretful. And also conflicted, I think. You invoke a lot of emotions in him."
Chitose chuckled. Yes, he'd read Niou's medical file, as any diligent doctor would, but he made no judgements. Everyone was different, after all. "People are more than just a handful of facts and situations. And honestly? I don't like to analyze any more than I have to for work."
He tipped his head sideways, so it was his cheek on his arms instead of his chin. "He's my best friend. We've been through a lot together, unfortunately not all of it pleasant. So there's a lot there." Like the fairly recent revelation that they'd been in love with each other, back then, but neither of them truly realized it until all these years later. "With all that history, it'd be surprising if I didn't."
Ah, lucky Chitose who was able to turn his brain off and not analyse people all the time. It seemed like a more peaceful existence. Niou gazed at Chitose in silence for a long while and then turned away to look at the collection of items in front of him. Overall, a very boring set of things except for the peppermint oil, that was new.
"Mmm, I know a little of it." And he had his suspicions about other parts of it. Niou moved onto rattling each of the pill bottles to line them up in order of emptiness. "Tachibana is very intensely in love with me," Niou said bluntly, glancing at Chitose's face. "Do I have to worry about you when I break his heart, or would that go against your doctor's oath thing?"
Chitose wondered idly just how much Niou knew, but he wasn't going to ask. And some of it was private, so he wasn't going to volunteer. "I do hope you're not actually planning to break his heart. But if it happens, I suppose how wary you have to be will depend on the exact circumstances. Not every relationship lasts, and some of them even end somewhat amicably. Or maybe you realize you don't return his feelings, and tell him so. Those can't exactly be helped, so I see no reason to get angry over them," he shrugged.
Niou smiled at Chitose and started to pack up the bag for him, slowly as he spoke. "What if I know I'm in love with someone else?" he asked, keeping his voice light and casual. "And I'm just keeping Tachibana around as a fun guinea pig… because I think he's physically aesthetically pleasing, and he cooks very well. Oh, and he has a nice dick." Niou smiled again. "Hypothetically, of course," he added on blandly.
Chitose smiled back. The temptation to say he has a GREAT dick was incredibly tempting, but he shoved that away. "Hmm…well…if that were the case, then I might just have to break my Hippocratic Oath." He kept the smile on his face and his eyes perfectly blank, in a sort of staring-off-into-space way. "Hypothetically, of course."
“Oh that’s concerning.” Chitose’s expression was… interesting. The control of his expressions was also… interesting and Niou filed that thought away for later consideration. “I suppose I’ll just have to wait until the 5 years are up then, to do that. Thank you for the warning.” Niou’s smile widened. “Of course, if he’s like this after… 7 weeks, who knows what he’ll be like after 250…”
Chitose chuckled a little, keeping the smile and expression mostly the same. "Kippei's a smart guy. I do trust his judgment. But I won't hesitate to caution him if I think he's missing the forest for the trees." Of course, Chitose would have to be very sure that Niou was likely leading him on to speak up, because as much as he wanted to protect Tachibana from something so heartbreaking, he also didn't want to risk ruining his own relationship with the man in the process. It was a fine line to walk.
"I think he's very… trusting. And gets very easily blinkered by that trust." Niou kept his expression carefully shuttered. Chitose was such an interesting character, what a fun contrast between him and Tachibana to think about. He rolled his shoulder slightly, experimentally and winced as the pain crept through the dullness of the pain killers. "He's very ugly when he cries though."
"He can be," Chitose nodded. "We both do like to believe the best of others…at least until we have a reason not to. Of course, we're also both well aware that no one is all good all the time." The only change in expression was a frown at Niou for moving his shoulder. "Keep it still. Or I'll come up with something to make you keep it still. And I think you'll like the sling a lot better than anything I rig up."
Niou just raised his eyebrows slightly. “What a foreign concept. I like to believe the worst of people, until they prove sufficiently otherwise.” He had however found an instant ice pack in his adventuring through the doctor bag and cracked it, placing it on his shoulder with a shaky exhale. “I’m so curious now at your threat,” He held the icepack in place and wriggled his fingers in the sling. And then shifted his shoulder again slightly with a pained look. “What exactly would you do, Chitose Senri? All hypothetically of course, if I misbehave.”
Now that Chitose had broken the neutral facade, he really didn’t feel like putting it back. It took work, to keep himself like that, and it reminded him of the wild days fighting side-by-side with Tachibana, which were bittersweet. So instead, he smiled genuinely at Niou. “I’m more an in-the-moment kinda guy. I’m not gonna sit here scheming up things to do in a situation that hopefully won’t happen. Rather, if it happens, I guess we’ll find out together what I’ll do about it.”
See, now that was just a terrible thing to say to Niou, with his curiosity and need to know the answer to things. “I see. So you’re not really one for looking at all the possibilities… good to know.” Niou shifted his hand from the icepack to fidget with the sling, quickly undoing it and oh no, his arm was free and he stared flatly at Chitose. And then purposely moved his arm, even though the pain made his mouth tighten. “Such an accident.”
Chitose shrugged. "I wouldn't say I don't look at all the possibilities. More like I don't let myself stress out about what might be, because it also might not be." He arched an eyebrow at Niou for undoing the sling and sighed. How could he get Niou to leave the sling in place and wear it properly… "Oh yes. Clearly an accident," he remarked, the disbelief clear in his tone. "I can fix it back up for you, if you'd like."
Niou shrugged, which at least was an unintentional movement that he hissed at as it upset his shoulder. "Terrible how these things happen." He purposely used his bad arm to drop Chitose's bag on the floor. "And no thank you, I have had an actual lifetime's serving of you touching me, I don't need any more." Chitose's doctor side was… he hated it, Niou had decided.
Hmmm. Chitose just might have thought of a suitable punishment if Niou broke Tachibana's heart…and it wasn't something most people would consider punishment. But Niou would. And that's all that mattered. "May I ask you a question?" Chitose asked, moving off the chair to pick up and reclaim his bag and supplies.
That made him laugh and Niou watched Chitose, running a very careful hand through his hair. And lifting his arm up that high he had to admit was not okay and he let it drop, reaching for the icepack again. "If you must."
Chitose's question was simple. "Do you have any intention of following my medical advice?"
Niou looked up at Chitose and leaned back on one hand (his good arm at least). And he appeared to give the question a bit of thought before he smiled at Chitose. "If I don't see any benefit in it, probably not. If you tried to reverse psychology me and tell me to use my arm as much as possible, I wouldn't purposely go against it just to spite you."
"So…you don't see any benefit in keeping your shoulder still, despite the fact that moving it can cause more damage, loss of motion, possibly pop it out again, and make you have to need surgery to attempt a repair, which - depending on the amount of damage - risks not being one hundred percent successful?" Chitose double checked the inventory of his bag, making sure nothing was lost. Then he sat on the floor, looking up (barely) at Niou. "I can't force you to listen to me. Ultimately you're going to do what you're going to do. But I at least have to make sure you're aware of the risks."
Ah, and there went the doctor explanation about why he was possibly going to make a bad decision, so that he could rethink his decision. Niou just looked bored through the explanation. "Yes I know, I've done this before." He sounded just as bored and unimpressed as he looked. "I also know that the sling just made it worse." He flicked that off the bed onto the floor.
Chitose shrugged. "It's your body, it's your choice. And I do genuinely hope it heals well." Despite you being a stubborn ass. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Niou balanced the icepack on his shoulder a bit better and he’d have to go and get another one later from… maybe Atobe. He had the bottle of painkillers and glanced at the sling lying on the floor. “You can get out, so I can get back to work.”
"Yeah, that's what I figured," Chitose grunted a little as he pushed himself up off the floor. Niou definitely made for a difficult patient. But Chitose liked a challenge, so he'd gladly take any other chances he got, if they came up. "Well, your shoulder's back in place, so I guess the rest is up to you." He tossed his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the portable X-ray. "Hope you heal well, Niou-chan," he grinned, giving a little wave as he headed for the door.
When: 14th August
Where: Niou and Hiyoshi's room
What: Niou dislocates his shoulder and meets Chitose. He hates doctors
Shit shit shit. For all his joking about dislocating shoulders when climbing into the chicken house, Niou hadn’t thought it would actually happen. He swore under his breath as he made his way to his room and sent a message to… … Chitose Senri was a doctor, right? And maybe a better option than Yagyuu who would probably hit him to pop it back into place and then slap him on the shoulder. Dislocated my shoulder. In B2-01. Not coming to medbay and thank god Hiyoshi wasn’t in to judge when he got there and sat down on his bed with a groan.
Chitose was actually in medbay, doing what he could in the wake of the disaster that was Tachibana's kid. Mostly, it meant checking the equipment to make sure it still worked, and passing off anything that didn't to someone who could fix it. But he got a message on his communicator and oh! Something more productive to do! Although the double-edged nature of his work meant that when he had something to do, more often than not, someone was in pain. Reading through the message, he looked around and gathered up supplies. A sling, a few different types of painkillers, and a few other things, and packed them all into his trusty old-fashioned doctor bag, then grabbed the portable X-ray machine (which was thankfully still fully functioning). He sent off a quick message that he was on the way, hollered to anyone who cared to listen that he was off on a housecall, and headed up.
Once he'd made it up to the residential area, he knocked on the indicated door. "Dr. Chitose, at your service!"
Niou fidgeted with his communicator to distract his mind as he waited and god he should have sent the message before he’d left agri so he didn’t have as long to wait. And he sighed in relief at the knock, using the voice commands to open the door so he didn’t have to get up. “Hi,” Niou grimaced at Chitose and nodded his head at the chair at his desk. “You can bring that over.”
Chitose stepped in, ducking a little to make sure he didn't conk his head on the door frame. "So. Tell me how it happened," he began, getting right to business. He slid the chair over, just because between his height and his patient being seated, remaining standing would be really uncomfortable. The first thing he did was grab the portable X-ray and examine the clearly injured shoulder. Yep. That's dislocated alright.
Ah… he preferred Chitose when he wasn’t being a doctor on the journals, and was answering weird questions. Niou sighed and stayed carefully still for the X-ray. “Dislocated it trying to get into the chicken house,” he said with another sigh. “It’s a small entrance, and I just got stuck. Making a better human-sized entrance is on my to do list,” he added on, before Chitose could say anything.
Chitose blinked. "....Why were you trying to get into the chicken house?" he asked, purely out of curiosity. And because more casual conversation tended to help relax the patients. "Sounds like a strange thing to do." He put the X-ray machine away and pulled a few vials out of his bag. "...I'm afraid we're going to have to pop it back in…and it's not generally a pleasant experience, but the pain should fade a lot once it's done. So. You want something to dull the pain first? Or take your chances?"
“... To make sure nothing was broken in there and find any eggs?” Niou said, slowly as though Chitose was… stupid for asking. Why else would he go into the chicken house? “And it’s my job?” Well, not officially, since he wasn’t entirely a volunteer anymore. Kind of, he’d kicked the replacement volunteer out and trusted Yanagi to do something to that paperwork. Niou sighed and closed his eyes. “Just do it. I don’t need pain killers.”
Chitose just laughed at Niou's tone as he put the vials back. "You know, back home, my family was friends with someone who had a couple of chickens. Their chicken house had one entire wall on a set of hinges, so when they needed in there they could just open it up like a door…Thought it was pretty clever, myself." As he spoke, he gently helped Niou lie down on his bed. Then, he took the injured arm by the wrist and raised it perpendicular, pulling upwards. "They told us it was either that or build a whole new coop, big enough for them to walk into. The door thing was a lot easier, less time, less money, less resources needed." Once he'd raised the arm high enough, he rotated it…until he literally felt it when the bones popped back into place. "Ah, there we go."
“The plans for the chicken house were designed by an imbecile. And I haven’t had the time to build a new one or fix it.” And at the time, he hadn’t been attached enough to care about how stupid they were. He very reluctantly let Chitose guide him and bit back a pained groan as his arm was moved. Niou couldn’t hold back the pained scream as it was popped back in and bit down on his tongue, shoving off Chitose’s hand. Fuck fuck fuck. Ow. He gritted his teeth and rolled over onto his good side to curl up and try and breathe.
Chitose dug into his bag and pulled out a small vase with some diffuser sticks, then poured a bit of peppermint oil into the vase. It wasn't as effective for pain relief as topical application, but he really doubted Niou would let him touch the shoulder, at this point. "The worst of the pain should fade quickly, although your shoulder will still be sore for a while. In fact….maybe you can take advantage of the downtime you're going to have to take to design some changes to the chicken coop. Because you're out of commission for a while, now." He pulled out the sling, but for now, set it on Niou's desk next to the oil diffuser.
Now that the immediate sharp pain had passed, Niou gently touched at his shoulder, feeling the tenderness. He froze at the mention of downtime and reluctantly pushed himself up to sitting. And he noted the… vase on his desk and the weird smell in the air. “I’m not taking downtime,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I have two arms, and I can use them both.” He might just be a bit slower with one shoulder/arm out of commission, that was all.
Chitose took advantage of Niou's freezing to take another X-ray, confirming that the shoulder was, in fact, back in place. "No siree. Your arm needs to be in a sling for a minimum of two weeks. Full immobility. Then you can ease into some physical therapy to help regain muscle strength and range of motion. If you don't, you can potentially injure your shoulder even worse. Maybe even lose use of it, if it's bad enough." Chitose grinned a little, feeling a bit mischievous. "Don't make me ask Kippei to help you follow my directions."
Niou just gave Chitose the dirtiest look he could muster. “Surprise, I had no muscle strength to begin with, so there’s nothing to regain.” And the thought of ‘physical therapy’ just seemed horrific and like too much time around doctors. “I’m fine.”
He did not appreciate the use of Tachibana against him, although it definitely cleared up a lingering question from the start of Chitose coming in. “You figured out who I am,” he said, a bit of a grimacing smile all that he could muster up. “Nice to meet you properly in person, Chitose Senri.” Besides the glance through the window into isolation, he supposed.
"If you had no muscle strength to begin with, your arm would have been a useless appendage hanging at your side. So even if you didn't have much, you had some. Which means it can be lost, or improved." Chitose was totally not phased by the dirty look. He'd seen worse. "As for your identity…it's not hard. For one, there's only two names on the door. For two, I have cards of people owning both names, so I know you're not Hiyoshi. And three… Communicator messages aren't anonymous." He shrugged. He'd known before he even got to the door. "Nice to meet you, Niou Masaharu," he beamed.
He was filled with regret for this whole thing. Niou sighed in frustration and god, maybe he should have actually messaged Yagyuu for help. Or Atobe, who would have just probably strapped him up, given him a spray and kicked him out. “You seemed confused about why I was associating with the chickens.” He shrugged and winced at the movement of his shoulder. Niou sighed again and gingerly moved his arm. “Do you have actual pain killers?” he asked. “And don’t you dare use Tachibana against me.”
"Not associating. Just actually climbing inside the coop. Seemed an odd thing to do when there are other options. Bendy camera thing, maybe?" Chitose reached into his bag. Of course he'd brought actual meds, and not just his naturopathic remedies. As much as he preferred the herbal remedies himself, he was well aware that not everyone shared his preference. "I have a condition for giving them to you." He held up the bottle and shook it, pills rattling. "Let me put the sling on, properly."
“I don’t do logical things very often,” Niou said and once again, was filled with regret that he hadn’t stopped to consider the use of tech - hilarious, given that he’d built it. He glanced at the pill bottle and then to Chitose’s face, and then back to the pills. And god but it was tempting to just tell him to fuck off and die, especially with that sort of trade. It hurt, but he could go get ice. And go see someone else for the pain if he had to. But also, there was nothing stopping him from just taking off the sling once Chitose left. “Fine.”
Chitose hummed at Niou's answer, pouring out a dose of the pills and pulling a bottle of water from his bag. He opened the bottle, knowing Niou would be unlikely to manage without hurting himself, then handed both over to him. "Take these first, then I'll put the sling on. And…you'll be surprised. Having the sling on properly will help lessen the pain you feel, so it's worth keeping on even after I leave." Niou's dislike for doctors was well documented in his medical record, which Chitose had taken the time in the lift to look over. "Is it bad that I want you to take proper care of yourself? To let your shoulder heal the way it should, so you can go back to whatever constitutes a normal life for you?"
Niou looked suspiciously at the bottle and put it in between his thighs to hold. “Give me the lid,” he said, holding his hand out. Because he had to check it in case Chitose had slipped something into the bottle. The pills though… he scanned over Chitose’s face and glanced down at the bottle. And fuck it, he took the pills dry, swallowing and keeping a very close look on Chitose’s expression as he did so. The water seemed the more likely place to keep some sort of drug, if he was trying to be sneaky. Or the diffuser. “What do you think my ‘normal life’ is, then? And why do you care?”
Chitose went ahead and settled the sling on carefully, getting it into the exact right spot so the sling was holding all of Niou's arm's weight, allowing the shoulder to rest. "You can look over anything you want," he remarked, sticking a leg out and sliding his bag closer. Yes, he'd noticed the suspicion in the way Niou was looking at everything. "I don't have any secrets when it comes to how I practice medicine." Once he was absolutely certain the sling was situated right, he sat back down in the desk chair, slouching just a little. "I don't know what your normal life is. That's why I want you to get back to your normal. I won't presume that what's normal for me, or for your roommate, or anyone else here, is the same as what's normal for you. And I care, well…because I care. I know it sounds stupid and sappy, but I just want everyone to be able to live long, healthy, happy lives. And then, of course, there's also the bit about Kippei being my best friend, so anyone who's important to him is important to me, too."
He instantly hated the sling so much. Niou moved the bottle to the table next to his bed and leaned down to pick up the bag so he could go through it one handed. The diffuser reeds were looked at curiously, the bottle of oil sniffed and he sneezed instantly after. He glanced occasionally at Chitose as he spoke, much more interested in the bottles of painkillers in the bag that all rattled when he shook them. “I’m curious. How much did Tachibana tell you? I know that you two have definitely talked about me.” Because Chitose knew who he was.
Chitose shifted, getting up and turning the chair around, then settled into sitting on it backwards, his arms crossed over the back of it. "We've not talked about you quite as much as you might think. I know he's attracted to you, that he thinks you're smart, funny, and…how did he phrase it? Sharp as a tack, I think. He did also say that you have some issues, although he didn't elaborate." Honestly, even if Tachibana hadn't told him Niou had issues, the way he was rifling through Chitose's bag would've been a pretty big tip-off.
Oh, that was actually nice to know that Tachibana hadn’t shared too much about him and kept things private. … If Chitose was to be believed. And Tachibana hadn’t told Chitose to keep his blabbing a secret and this was all a cover story… Niou glanced at Chitose out of the corner of his eye suspiciously. “I think he was being a bit nice and… delicately worded about me,” Niou said with a laugh, pulling out the stethoscope and thermometer curiously. Such a boring doctor bag, really. Oh look, a pen. Niou spun that around his fingers. “I’ve heard so much about you on the other hand. That’s a bit worrying, actually.”
"Mm, maybe. But I'm glad, because it gives me a chance to get to know you myself, form my own opinions and all that." Chitose grinned, as much over Niou being good and not insisting on using his newly-reduced shoulder as he was over Tachibana talking about him. Things between them were definitely better than when he'd first arrived, but…they weren't the same. They wouldn't be, and that was okay, but it was weird to get used to. "I hope he's not telling you I'm crazy or something. I wouldn't put it past him."
"Oh no, I must be presenting an amazing image of myself to you," Niou said, sounding bored. "The crazy man in isolation, now with a dislocated shoulder. Oh and with an allergy to doctors. And all my medical problems." Because if he'd been in Chitose's position with access to medical details about people, he would have read them all.
He lined everything up neatly in front of him and went back to the bag, pulling out some generic boring bandages. "He seems very fond of you. And regretful. And also conflicted, I think. You invoke a lot of emotions in him."
Chitose chuckled. Yes, he'd read Niou's medical file, as any diligent doctor would, but he made no judgements. Everyone was different, after all. "People are more than just a handful of facts and situations. And honestly? I don't like to analyze any more than I have to for work."
He tipped his head sideways, so it was his cheek on his arms instead of his chin. "He's my best friend. We've been through a lot together, unfortunately not all of it pleasant. So there's a lot there." Like the fairly recent revelation that they'd been in love with each other, back then, but neither of them truly realized it until all these years later. "With all that history, it'd be surprising if I didn't."
Ah, lucky Chitose who was able to turn his brain off and not analyse people all the time. It seemed like a more peaceful existence. Niou gazed at Chitose in silence for a long while and then turned away to look at the collection of items in front of him. Overall, a very boring set of things except for the peppermint oil, that was new.
"Mmm, I know a little of it." And he had his suspicions about other parts of it. Niou moved onto rattling each of the pill bottles to line them up in order of emptiness. "Tachibana is very intensely in love with me," Niou said bluntly, glancing at Chitose's face. "Do I have to worry about you when I break his heart, or would that go against your doctor's oath thing?"
Chitose wondered idly just how much Niou knew, but he wasn't going to ask. And some of it was private, so he wasn't going to volunteer. "I do hope you're not actually planning to break his heart. But if it happens, I suppose how wary you have to be will depend on the exact circumstances. Not every relationship lasts, and some of them even end somewhat amicably. Or maybe you realize you don't return his feelings, and tell him so. Those can't exactly be helped, so I see no reason to get angry over them," he shrugged.
Niou smiled at Chitose and started to pack up the bag for him, slowly as he spoke. "What if I know I'm in love with someone else?" he asked, keeping his voice light and casual. "And I'm just keeping Tachibana around as a fun guinea pig… because I think he's physically aesthetically pleasing, and he cooks very well. Oh, and he has a nice dick." Niou smiled again. "Hypothetically, of course," he added on blandly.
Chitose smiled back. The temptation to say he has a GREAT dick was incredibly tempting, but he shoved that away. "Hmm…well…if that were the case, then I might just have to break my Hippocratic Oath." He kept the smile on his face and his eyes perfectly blank, in a sort of staring-off-into-space way. "Hypothetically, of course."
“Oh that’s concerning.” Chitose’s expression was… interesting. The control of his expressions was also… interesting and Niou filed that thought away for later consideration. “I suppose I’ll just have to wait until the 5 years are up then, to do that. Thank you for the warning.” Niou’s smile widened. “Of course, if he’s like this after… 7 weeks, who knows what he’ll be like after 250…”
Chitose chuckled a little, keeping the smile and expression mostly the same. "Kippei's a smart guy. I do trust his judgment. But I won't hesitate to caution him if I think he's missing the forest for the trees." Of course, Chitose would have to be very sure that Niou was likely leading him on to speak up, because as much as he wanted to protect Tachibana from something so heartbreaking, he also didn't want to risk ruining his own relationship with the man in the process. It was a fine line to walk.
"I think he's very… trusting. And gets very easily blinkered by that trust." Niou kept his expression carefully shuttered. Chitose was such an interesting character, what a fun contrast between him and Tachibana to think about. He rolled his shoulder slightly, experimentally and winced as the pain crept through the dullness of the pain killers. "He's very ugly when he cries though."
"He can be," Chitose nodded. "We both do like to believe the best of others…at least until we have a reason not to. Of course, we're also both well aware that no one is all good all the time." The only change in expression was a frown at Niou for moving his shoulder. "Keep it still. Or I'll come up with something to make you keep it still. And I think you'll like the sling a lot better than anything I rig up."
Niou just raised his eyebrows slightly. “What a foreign concept. I like to believe the worst of people, until they prove sufficiently otherwise.” He had however found an instant ice pack in his adventuring through the doctor bag and cracked it, placing it on his shoulder with a shaky exhale. “I’m so curious now at your threat,” He held the icepack in place and wriggled his fingers in the sling. And then shifted his shoulder again slightly with a pained look. “What exactly would you do, Chitose Senri? All hypothetically of course, if I misbehave.”
Now that Chitose had broken the neutral facade, he really didn’t feel like putting it back. It took work, to keep himself like that, and it reminded him of the wild days fighting side-by-side with Tachibana, which were bittersweet. So instead, he smiled genuinely at Niou. “I’m more an in-the-moment kinda guy. I’m not gonna sit here scheming up things to do in a situation that hopefully won’t happen. Rather, if it happens, I guess we’ll find out together what I’ll do about it.”
See, now that was just a terrible thing to say to Niou, with his curiosity and need to know the answer to things. “I see. So you’re not really one for looking at all the possibilities… good to know.” Niou shifted his hand from the icepack to fidget with the sling, quickly undoing it and oh no, his arm was free and he stared flatly at Chitose. And then purposely moved his arm, even though the pain made his mouth tighten. “Such an accident.”
Chitose shrugged. "I wouldn't say I don't look at all the possibilities. More like I don't let myself stress out about what might be, because it also might not be." He arched an eyebrow at Niou for undoing the sling and sighed. How could he get Niou to leave the sling in place and wear it properly… "Oh yes. Clearly an accident," he remarked, the disbelief clear in his tone. "I can fix it back up for you, if you'd like."
Niou shrugged, which at least was an unintentional movement that he hissed at as it upset his shoulder. "Terrible how these things happen." He purposely used his bad arm to drop Chitose's bag on the floor. "And no thank you, I have had an actual lifetime's serving of you touching me, I don't need any more." Chitose's doctor side was… he hated it, Niou had decided.
Hmmm. Chitose just might have thought of a suitable punishment if Niou broke Tachibana's heart…and it wasn't something most people would consider punishment. But Niou would. And that's all that mattered. "May I ask you a question?" Chitose asked, moving off the chair to pick up and reclaim his bag and supplies.
That made him laugh and Niou watched Chitose, running a very careful hand through his hair. And lifting his arm up that high he had to admit was not okay and he let it drop, reaching for the icepack again. "If you must."
Chitose's question was simple. "Do you have any intention of following my medical advice?"
Niou looked up at Chitose and leaned back on one hand (his good arm at least). And he appeared to give the question a bit of thought before he smiled at Chitose. "If I don't see any benefit in it, probably not. If you tried to reverse psychology me and tell me to use my arm as much as possible, I wouldn't purposely go against it just to spite you."
"So…you don't see any benefit in keeping your shoulder still, despite the fact that moving it can cause more damage, loss of motion, possibly pop it out again, and make you have to need surgery to attempt a repair, which - depending on the amount of damage - risks not being one hundred percent successful?" Chitose double checked the inventory of his bag, making sure nothing was lost. Then he sat on the floor, looking up (barely) at Niou. "I can't force you to listen to me. Ultimately you're going to do what you're going to do. But I at least have to make sure you're aware of the risks."
Ah, and there went the doctor explanation about why he was possibly going to make a bad decision, so that he could rethink his decision. Niou just looked bored through the explanation. "Yes I know, I've done this before." He sounded just as bored and unimpressed as he looked. "I also know that the sling just made it worse." He flicked that off the bed onto the floor.
Chitose shrugged. "It's your body, it's your choice. And I do genuinely hope it heals well." Despite you being a stubborn ass. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Niou balanced the icepack on his shoulder a bit better and he’d have to go and get another one later from… maybe Atobe. He had the bottle of painkillers and glanced at the sling lying on the floor. “You can get out, so I can get back to work.”
"Yeah, that's what I figured," Chitose grunted a little as he pushed himself up off the floor. Niou definitely made for a difficult patient. But Chitose liked a challenge, so he'd gladly take any other chances he got, if they came up. "Well, your shoulder's back in place, so I guess the rest is up to you." He tossed his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the portable X-ray. "Hope you heal well, Niou-chan," he grinned, giving a little wave as he headed for the door.
