damned_institute | Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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Day 31: Intercom, Evening

The intercom's jingle came on with its usual overly-cheery quality, echoing through the halls and doctors' offices.

"I trust, as always, that you all enjoyed the last shift and that all the staff-patient interaction went smoothly. Of course, we're nearing the end of another day and so we must begin to bring things to a close. Nurses and orderlies, please escort all the patients to their respective rooms and make sure everyone gets their dinner--which is, by the way, chicken teriyaki and assorted tempura, along with rice and miso soup--before they retire for the night. A vegetarian substitute is of course available, and we have our usual assortment of drinks; we also have a special of hot green tea to go along with the meal.

"Thank you, everyone, for an exceedingly pleasant day, and our therapy sessions will continue tomorrow as scheduled. Enjoy your dinner, and I will be on again before bedtime to say goodnight."

The announcement ended.

[ As always, individual dinner threads go in response to this post, and it helps to put your character's room number in the subject line. Thanks! ]

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Artemis nearly dropped the whole discussion right there in favor of holding Haku until night came, but somehow he managed to restrain himself by squeezing Haku's hand back. He had to continue onto a darker subject, as much as he didn't want to.

"And when you came into the room tonight and saw me on the bed, what did you think?"

"I was worried that you were hurt." Haku tilted his head, thinking about it. "That someone had hurt you." But this was all obvious stuff and Haku hadn't shown any of it then.

"No, no one hurt me," That he knew of, really. But he didn't want to think about that right now. "But if someone had hurt me, what would you do?"

"Kill them." That was simple too. Haku would do the same for Artemis as he would if anyone had hurt Zabuza-san.

He remembered, rather belatedly, that Artemis wasn't keen on death, but he didn't bother trying to cover his words now. HE wanted to see what his reaction would be.

Well, that was rather chivalrous, wasn't it? Artemis looked slightly shocked for a moment, as though he'd just received a rather flattering compliment that he didn't think he deserved. In a roundabout way, he supposed that's what it was, really.

"Why would you kill them? Being hurt by people is a natural part of life, isn't it?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them.

"Yes," Haku said. "That doesn't make it right. It happens, there's nothing that can be done to stop it after the fact, but it can be prvented from happening the same way again." He frowned slightly again. "I would kill them because ... I wouldn't want you to be hurt again."

Artemis nodded, "So you would do it to prevent further injury from happening. Not because whoever hurt me made you angry by hurting someone you cared about?"

Haku thought about that. "No, I would be angry." He laughed softly. "But I do rash things when I get angry." He smiled and looked over at Artemis. "The last time I was really angry, I crushed a man's arm."

Well, this was at least confirming Artemis' original belief that his roommate was more powerful than he appeared.

"I'll... try to stay on your good side then," He said with a weak chuckle. "I like my arms how they are, thank you."

The boy smiled and squeezed Haku's hand again, "That took a bit of doing, but we made it. You said you would be angry if someone hurt me. That's a wonderful start."

Haku smiled reassuringly. "If I hurt you, wouldn't that go against everything I'd just said? You're my friend. Hurting you would be rather silly."

"I suppose so, but you never know what sorts of arguments we could get into," He gave another nervous laugh. "But... I'm flattered that you would be angry if someone hurt me." Angry enough to kill someone, apparently. "I would be furious if someone hurt you, too. Even though that's rather unlikely..."

Haku shrugged and shook his head. "I doubt you could make me that angry Artemis," he said, patting their joined hands with his free one. He wasn't really sure why they were still holding hands, but Haku was finding that he rather liked physical contact. After he'd reached a certain age, Zabuza-san had stopped touching him all together.

He had been surprised to find that he'd missed it.

"I wouldn't want to make you angry in the first place," He said softly. "It would upset me to know that I'd made you angry, or even sad."

Artemis swallowed again, "I'll do my best to always be happy, since you like me that way. I want you to be happy as well, and if I can ensure that by smiling, I'll be more than ecstatic to smile--always." A daunting vow, but one he intended to keep.

Haku smiled and brought up a hand to laugh softly. "Don't feel like you have to be anything other than you, okay? Be sad, be angry, be whatever you'd like."

His smile turned slightly teasing. "I learn better by observation anyway. Perhaps if I watch you expressing your emotions, I'll learn to express mine."

Artemis laughed, "So I suppose you know exactly how to react when the world comes crashing down around your ears, hm? I should start making a lesson plan. Tomorrow could be embarrassment, the next annoyance... and so on!"

Haku laughed. "No, I think I have embarrassment down," he teased. "Warm cheeks, jittery body language. You're a very good teacher."

Artemis' face turned bright red and he let go of Haku's hand. Caught.

"That's... I mean, it's..." He gave up. "Is it that obvious?"

"Oh yes. In the showers, you were very obvious." He felt the loss of the warmth of the hand in his, but didn't move to take his hand back. He wondered why that had caused the other boy to let go though.

"I don't think anyone else noticed though."

...wait, what?

"O-oh! Yes," He laughed, relieved that Haku wasn't talking about something more obvious. "I'm... not used to being completely naked in front of people I don't know. Not to mention the myriad of insults on my back, which would have caused people to stare.

"And that other person... Sai-san... saw," He buried his face in his hands and groaned. "I thought I'd die right there."

Haku reached over and lightly patted his roommate's back. "Sai-san and I were the only ones," he offered. "And he's from the same world I am. Public bathing is nothing new."

It was still slightly strange to think of a place where people all had their own baths.

Artemis felt his face getting even redder. "Y-you saw too...?!"

Now he was certain he was going to die of embarrassment. Of course, he supposed it was only fair. He had taken a quick look at Haku, after all... it was probably only fair.

Still... he saw.

"Those marks all over your back were pretty hard to miss." Honestly, he didn't understand why Artemis was getting so worked up about this...

"Well that's for certain," he said with a sigh. Artemis couldn't help but wonder if Haku was intentionally not on the same page as him, or if they were just experiencing a moment of cultural difference.

He chose cultural difference, for his own sanity's sake.

"I haven't checked to see if they're still there. I made an appointment to get them removed, if they are."

"Good." Haku smiled. "They weren't very flattering and clashed horribly with your skin tone. You would look much better without them." His tone was both serious and teasing.

"Haku!" Artemis moaned. "My face was just returning to a normal shade! At this rate I'm going to pass out from a headrush!"

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