Transaction

Disclaimer: Whee!

Author’s Notes: Look, I actually did a second update today! WOO! And I have more great awesome news! More? How is this possible!?

The daycare called me back for an interview on Friday. I'm so excited. Fingers crossed guys! I loved this little daycare. I don't like how they seem to reach their breaking point and shout, but I don't have to be like that with the kids.

So, here we are at tense and drama filled moment in the story. As if there haven't been enough, right? I liked this scene a lot, because Tohma started getting confusing at this point. It seems like he starts becoming a high school girl. We want our partners to know exactly what we want without telling them directly. So, just like in real life, Tohma's thoughts aren't going to reflect in his words.

With that in mind, enjoy!
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Transaction

Chapter Forty-Two
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It could have been hilarious. Not hours before, Taki would have laughed at the sight of Tohma's obvious panic. It was in the way he moved his eyes, how his fingers twitched, but Taki wasn't paying attention to them.

He could only stare down at his legs, and hate. It was almost physical, lodging in his throat and choking him. Clogging his chest and making his fingers curl into fists.

Taki only glanced up when Tohma came back from the bathroom, catching sight of the gloves first. His eyes flicked up to Tohma's face, and he was speaking before he realized what he was saying. "Are you alright?"

He didn't know what possessed him to ask, but maybe it would be easier to ignore his own discomfort if he concentrated on Tohma. Because certainly he didn't care if Tohma was alright. It didn't matter to him a bit. No, not at all.

Tohma looked up and gave Taki a small smile as he made sure to sit on the very edge of the chair without falling over. Disgusting, polluted, confining. The blond could feel the powdery residue in the gloves cling to his fingers. He flexed them stiffly and he heard them squeak quietly.

"I'm fine, Taki," he assured the other man. "More importantly, how are you doing? Any better?"

Part of him was hoping that Taki would get up and walk so badly, that he could feel the urge to sweat. Another part wanted to know what was seriously wrong with the other man, if it was worrisome. After all, this wasn't normal.

"I don't know." Taki admitted, shifting his gaze away from Tohma again. He couldn't tell the difference. He was so desperate for a change in condition that he was latching onto anything that trailed across his path, but he couldn't tell if they were real or not and always dismissed them as fake.

He wasn't one to get his hopes up without cause.

A nurse stepped into the room but didn't linger, letting them know that a doctor would be with them shortly. Taki was fidgeting, hands picking at his pants without cause.

Tohma said nothing, only nodded at Taki, though taking the time to thank the nurse. There wasn't much to do, except wait. At least he could look patient on the outside, though he only wanted to get out as soon as possible.

Finally the doctor came in, a man who reached about Tohma's shoulder with short, black hair and squinty eyes hidden behind thick glasses. He looked to be in his mid forties, the lines on his face seeming deep.

"Ah, Seguchi-san?" he asked, turning around to close the curtains around the small area, creating a room. Tohma nodded and stood to greet him.

"Hello, I'm doctor Katsu," he said with a nod. He flipped through a few papers, though Tohma hadn't filled out any. "I'm sorry, but I was only given a name and told where to go."

"Yes, my fault entirely," the blond said. "My friend here woke up earlier this evening with his legs paralyzed. Two years previous, he was in a fairly bad accident with a car, and his legs were damaged. I'm thinking there may be some correlation."

The doctor looked Taki over curiously before addressing him.

"Mister..."

"Aizawa," Tohma filled in.

"Mr. Aizawa, I'll have some nurses in here to help undress and settle you in. If you could give me the name of the doctor that would have your last records, I'll be able to get started."

Fairly bad accident? Friend? Damaged? Taki felt as if they were speaking about someone else, and he was more than willing to let them have at it. What did he care, if they were talking about someone else?

He sounded like a poor bastard.

It was a short lived comfort, because an expectant silence had fallen, and Taki looked up to see Katsu's eyes on him. Obviously waiting for the answer to his question.

Taki had to backtrack to remember what had been said. "Koruda." He answered at length, a flashing image of the light hair and bright smile blinding him for a moment. He remembered Koruda, especially the nurse conversations.

Full blood Japanese, they said, but born and raised in America. All accompanied with twitters and giggles and finally, the pill that was supposed to put him to sleep. He hadn't seen anything entirely special in Koruda. He hadn't liked him much.

"Koruda," Katsu repeated for memory, scribbling it down just in case. "Alright. I'll have two nurses in here in a few minutes. I'll return once I have all the details I need."

"Thank you doctor," Tohma said with another nod, taking his seat again, not any more comfortable than he was five minutes ago. He looked over at Taki, who seemed on the verge of a mood.

"Is everything alright, Taki?" he asked, lacing his hands together. The gloves stuck slightly together.

Taki waited until Katsu had left, probably to go call Koruda and get his files, before he shrugged. Was everything alright? Of course it wasn't.

What a stupid fucking question.

He tilted his head back to give Tohma a look that said, "You don't really want an honest answer, do you?" Because Taki could give an honest answer, but he was sure that wasn't what Tohma wanted to hear. It wouldn't be anything he hadn't already heard, of course, but Taki had a few choice phrases he would throw in.

You know, just for fun.

"You know you can be as honest as you'd like, Taki," Tohma said with a nod, looking serious.

The blond didn't care what Taki had to say be lie or dead truth. The other man would never get over the past (and he wasn't asking him to) and this was yet another connection to it, and he was most likely going to get the blame.

"Because there's nothing you can say, that will make me get up and leave this room. Unless, of course, that's what you'd rather. Rest assured, I can have your transportation taken care of if you'd rather my company be elsewhere," Tohma said, feeling edgy He half hoped Taki would let him go.

Taki shrugged, like he didn't care. He wasn't going to give Tohma's question a real answer. It took too much energy to say it all, and the words would fall on deaf ears. It was a waste of breath, and Taki wasn't into waste.

"You're a grown man," He pointed out. "You can do whatever the fuck you want."

A translation from Taki-speech would mean that Tohma could leave if he wanted to. Taki didn't care.

After all, who was he to try to hold back THE Seguchi Tohma?

He wished he could stand just so he could beat his head into the wall.

"I see," Tohma said quietly.

Apparently his thoughts before this trip to the hospital had been correct. It seemed as though this would never be happening again between them. So be it. It was just one more short lived fling in Tohma's book.

The blond rose from his seat, unable to help wiping at the back of his pants.

"I'll have my driver waiting for when you're release. Come back to work whenever you feel ready enough, make sure they bill me, and if you're not back to work by the time the week is up, and Kenji has not returned, I'll inform you," Tohma said with a curt nod, leaving just as the two nurses had entered to help prepare Taki for getting checked out.

He exited the hospital, taking in a sharp, deep breath of cool air that tasted clean and sweet compared to the closed in and diseased hospital air. Tohma called up his driver, apologizing for waking him and asked him to come by to pick him up, then do him the favor of waiting for his nightly guest.

Soon he was back home and peeling off the now moist latex gloves, throwing them away and taking a shower, washing away everything from that night. He dressed for bed, slipping into it, pulling out an extra pair of gloves and letting them sit on his bedside table for the morning.
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Author's Notes: Whee! I'm getting a wee bit sleepy, so I'm a wee bit loopy. I'm thinking it might be nap time after this even though that means I might miss the small window of opportunity to catch Kel and get on some more work done. I may just take that chance, and hopefully, when I get up, she'll have left a reply for me to work with.

Either way, this chapter. Tohma and Taki are complex. Real. Like I said, their thoughts don't completely flow with their speech. I see, a lot of times, that people write their characters thought and details that lead them towards asking the same thing out loud. It's good, and it's like that. A lot of the time, I'm like this. If I don't want to say something, I don't. I'm not sure about Kel. Thoughts are personal and branch off in so many ways, and that's hard to grasp. I don't know of anyone who was ever able to capture that completely. Anyways, I think it was a good chapter. A defining chapter.

Tell us what you guys think!

~Subby