You slide the door behind you when you arrive at your parents' house—breathing in the familiar scent of leftover incense with a sigh.
"I'm home," you call out, and you vaguely hear your mother respond with a distant, Welcome back! from the kitchen. You're quick to slip off your shoes by the entrance before padding further inside.
"Just in time for lunch," your mother says with a smile, ladle in hand as she stirs a pot of savory curry on the stove. "I was a bit worried about the text you sent. Is your friend alright? You said he had a concussion."
The way she addressed Arataki as your 'friend' makes a chill run across the length of your spine. Last night isn't the first time you've had to watch over someone at the hospital (your father is quite the regular patient himself). But having to do so for a certain gang boss with the social adeptness of a bake-danuki pushed your saintlike patience to the limits. It's a good thing Shinobu arrived before you could strangle him to death.
"Yeah," you tell her dryly. "His, uh, sister's looking after him now."
"That's good, that's good." She grins. "Can you set the table and call your father, dear? He's fixing a leak in the roof even if I told him you're coming over. You know how he is."
You let out a quiet laugh. "Sure do."
Being back home, despite your prior insistence to move out, slightly abates the negative energy you've accumulated earlier today. But no matter how nice the curry smells, and how sweetly your mother smiles at you, they aren't exactly enough to make you forget the proposition offered to you this morning.
It's ten minutes to seven when Arataki nudges you awake for the fifth time. You glare at him from your seat, noticing that you've developed a stiff neck overnight. "What do you want now?"
"Nothing," he says, yet the intensity of his gaze tells otherwise. And despite having little to no sleep for the past few hours, Arataki looks irritatingly chipper. "I just realized that you've been listening to me blab about Onikabuto Royale championships for hours but I don't even know your name yet. Shinobu asked you to stay here, right, nee-chan?"
You huff, getting back to your feet to ease the cricks in both your neck and joints. It takes you a while to dig for your phone in your pocket, but when you do, you read through a message Shinobu sent about half an hour ago.
Shinobu [06:25]: I'm on my way, I hope he didn't bother you too much
"You don't even know the person who rents out your gang's commercial space?" you question Arataki as you type a quick OK to Shinobu. "And, to clarify, she didn't ask me to do this, I offered."
Arataki sits in silence for a few moments—looking especially skeptical of your answer. Though you don't really have the time to chide him for it because you notice that the bag of IV fluid hanging next to his bed is about to run out. You're planning to walk over to the nearby nurse's station, but then you feel a large hand enclosing your wrist—tugging you back with enough force to rid you of whatever sleepiness lingered in your mind.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" you hiss, attempting to yank your arm back, but Arataki's grip remains iron-tight. "I'm going to tell the nurses to replace your IV. You don't want air getting into your veins, right?"
"I've been told I have lots of that in my head," Arataki mumbles, and you wonder if he's aware that he just insulted himself. "But, whatever. What happened last night... It's all on me. Sorry 'bout that."
YOU ARE READING
reparations | genshin impact
Fanfiction[ modern au ; florist!reader x arataki itto ] Running a business in Hanamizaka was one thing-but doing so in the turf of the Arataki Gang was something else entirely. Although, as long as you paid rent on time, they assured that you wouldn't run in...
