Taki-centric fic for 10settings; Theme Set A: Hospital
Title: To Hurt and to Heal (theme: hospital)
Word Count: 659
Rating: PG for language.
Summary: Taki’s father is in the hospital. Some old hurts come to light.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation nor its characters. They are the rightful property of Maki Murakami.
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So I’m granted a week off from work, and where do I spend it? At the fuckin’ hospital. This is the stuff vacations are made of. Fuck.
It’s not me in the bed lying like cold dead fish, with tubes sticking in my arms and up my nose. It’s my dad. Funny, y’know? You see, I had the unfortunate bad luck to pick up my phone yesterday. Unless I’m expecting a call, I usually let the machine handle ‘em. So maybe it was divine intervention that I picked up. Anyway, it was my mom pleading for me to come home. Dad’s car crashed through a guardrail and down a ravine and he’s in ‘critical condition’ at the hospital. Layman’s terms, it basically means, ‘sneeze-and-he’ll-probably-die”.
I’ll sneeze. Fuck divine intervention.
I had my week planned and I wasn’t going to let the old geezer ruin it. So I said no.
But shit happens, and it always happens to me. The flight to Thailand was cancelled because of a storm. Kaoru broke up with me - that two-timing bitch - and Ma-kun’s MIA, probably stoned shit somewhere in Tokyo or Algeria, hell if I know. He’s not shown himself since we last fought three days ago.
So for lack of anything better to do, I fly down to Osaka. It was three days after my mom called. I fly down thinking if Lady Luck loves me, all I’ll see is a pine box.
She hates me.
Back to now. Keeping a bedside vigil with my elegant overdressed mom. I’ve been here for fifteen minutes when Mom breaks the silence:
“Taki, I know you and your father have had problems before…”
Voted “Father and Son Most Likely to Kill Each Other in a Week” in a mock poll by my classmates before graduation. “Problems”, my dear mother, is an understatement.
I glance at the body on the bed. The highly esteemed Dr. Aizawa Oribe - perpetually-tanned fanatic of early-morning jogs - looks gray and wrinkled and old and part of the scenery of this sterile hospital suite, with all its mechanical beeps and tubes and dials.
Like he belongs in this fancy chrome-lined death box.
“It‘s been two years already…He regrets everything, you know. Please try to p-p-pray for him.” Her voice starts to crack and she coughs, trying to hide it.
Bitchplease. Don’t cry, you don’t know how to do it.
Then his eyes flutter open and he squints at me for the longest time before saying my name. I stare down without flinching.
“Taki,” he repeats, and his eyebrows draw down. What the fuck, a deathbed lecture? It takes me a moment to realize he was smiling. I think I stop breathing right there. And when he reaches for my hand and squeezes it, I couldn’t snatch it back in time. That’s how shocked I am.
First time he smiled at me.
“You’re back,” he whispers, and closes his eyes.
The monitor keeps its steady beep-beep-beep.
A loud sob startles me. I draw my hand back and look at my mother. She was smiling while crying - or crying while smiling. Whatever, it’s downright bizarre. I’ve never seen Mother cry before. Her happy drugs made sure of that.
“Taki, he woke up! That was the first time! I’ve got to call the doctor!” And off she stumbles into the hallway, all mascara and smeared make-up.
I turn away and leave the room, away from the nurses’ station where my mom was crowing the good news. I don’t know what to feel. I think I feel nothing. Or maybe something. Regret? I’ve numbed myself emotionally that I don’t know how to react anymore. Right before my eyes, the façade of the perfect dysfunctional family I’ve known has shattered. Everything’s real now. And as I push the door open and step into the windy night, all I know is that I’m sorry it was an accident that brought us all together again.
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Author’s Note: I have so much fun writing Taki. All we know about him is his dark side. It’s interesting to explore his past and make up stories that jive with his personality as we know it. I’d appreciate reviews. Thank you! ;p
Word Count: 659
Rating: PG for language.
Summary: Taki’s father is in the hospital. Some old hurts come to light.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation nor its characters. They are the rightful property of Maki Murakami.
-------
So I’m granted a week off from work, and where do I spend it? At the fuckin’ hospital. This is the stuff vacations are made of. Fuck.
It’s not me in the bed lying like cold dead fish, with tubes sticking in my arms and up my nose. It’s my dad. Funny, y’know? You see, I had the unfortunate bad luck to pick up my phone yesterday. Unless I’m expecting a call, I usually let the machine handle ‘em. So maybe it was divine intervention that I picked up. Anyway, it was my mom pleading for me to come home. Dad’s car crashed through a guardrail and down a ravine and he’s in ‘critical condition’ at the hospital. Layman’s terms, it basically means, ‘sneeze-and-he’ll-probably-die”.
I’ll sneeze. Fuck divine intervention.
I had my week planned and I wasn’t going to let the old geezer ruin it. So I said no.
But shit happens, and it always happens to me. The flight to Thailand was cancelled because of a storm. Kaoru broke up with me - that two-timing bitch - and Ma-kun’s MIA, probably stoned shit somewhere in Tokyo or Algeria, hell if I know. He’s not shown himself since we last fought three days ago.
So for lack of anything better to do, I fly down to Osaka. It was three days after my mom called. I fly down thinking if Lady Luck loves me, all I’ll see is a pine box.
She hates me.
Back to now. Keeping a bedside vigil with my elegant overdressed mom. I’ve been here for fifteen minutes when Mom breaks the silence:
“Taki, I know you and your father have had problems before…”
Voted “Father and Son Most Likely to Kill Each Other in a Week” in a mock poll by my classmates before graduation. “Problems”, my dear mother, is an understatement.
I glance at the body on the bed. The highly esteemed Dr. Aizawa Oribe - perpetually-tanned fanatic of early-morning jogs - looks gray and wrinkled and old and part of the scenery of this sterile hospital suite, with all its mechanical beeps and tubes and dials.
Like he belongs in this fancy chrome-lined death box.
“It‘s been two years already…He regrets everything, you know. Please try to p-p-pray for him.” Her voice starts to crack and she coughs, trying to hide it.
Bitchplease. Don’t cry, you don’t know how to do it.
Then his eyes flutter open and he squints at me for the longest time before saying my name. I stare down without flinching.
“Taki,” he repeats, and his eyebrows draw down. What the fuck, a deathbed lecture? It takes me a moment to realize he was smiling. I think I stop breathing right there. And when he reaches for my hand and squeezes it, I couldn’t snatch it back in time. That’s how shocked I am.
First time he smiled at me.
“You’re back,” he whispers, and closes his eyes.
The monitor keeps its steady beep-beep-beep.
A loud sob startles me. I draw my hand back and look at my mother. She was smiling while crying - or crying while smiling. Whatever, it’s downright bizarre. I’ve never seen Mother cry before. Her happy drugs made sure of that.
“Taki, he woke up! That was the first time! I’ve got to call the doctor!” And off she stumbles into the hallway, all mascara and smeared make-up.
I turn away and leave the room, away from the nurses’ station where my mom was crowing the good news. I don’t know what to feel. I think I feel nothing. Or maybe something. Regret? I’ve numbed myself emotionally that I don’t know how to react anymore. Right before my eyes, the façade of the perfect dysfunctional family I’ve known has shattered. Everything’s real now. And as I push the door open and step into the windy night, all I know is that I’m sorry it was an accident that brought us all together again.
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Author’s Note: I have so much fun writing Taki. All we know about him is his dark side. It’s interesting to explore his past and make up stories that jive with his personality as we know it. I’d appreciate reviews. Thank you! ;p