Worlds Away {Ghoul! Suzuya Juuzou x female reader}

Stitches

**Two weeks later**

I looked down at the papers I held in my hand, the long, numbered list daunting even to me. I peered up at Juuzou, who was shifting nervously on his feet in front of me.

"This is...a lot of rules."

He nodded.

"Are you sure...are you sure you can follow all these rules?" I stifled a laugh.

He blinked at me. "I don't have a choice," he said sourly before taking the papers from my hand and setting them on the desk behind him, as if placing them out of his line of sight made them disappear.

I looked up at him, placing a hand across my lips to hide the smile forming there. Juuzou had been out of Cochlea for ten days, and he already looked so much better.

His hair was trimmed back to its normal length, and the white roots were long gone. His skin was still slightly sallow from lack of nutrients and sun during his month-long stint at Cochlea, but his eyes were clear and he'd put back on some of the weight he'd lost due to their starvation tactics.

"Are you ready for tomorrow, Juuzou?" My voice was quiet, and I tore an unruly cuticle off one of my nails. I knew he would answer with forced confidence, stubbornly acting as if everything was alright, as if his mental and physical health weren't still suffering. But I watched him. And I woke up to him crying multiple times a night, stroking his hair and coaxing him back to sleep while he denied that he'd even had a nightmare. I watched him struggle through each day and I knew that he wasn't ready to go into the field.

"I'm ready," he said, the smile lingering on his lips a ghost of the one I was used to.

I shook my head slightly. "Okay. I'll be thinking about you all day."

I stretched my hand out to him, and he took it, sitting down next to me on the bed.

I saw him reach his other hand to the skin near his collarbones, fingers habitually looking for the threads that were no longer there.

I reached out and caught that hand too, feeling his fingers twitch nervously in my grasp.

"I wish that you were going to be there tomorrow. I saw you fight that one time...you're good." He murmured.

"I was good. I haven't fought in months. I barely remember how to use my kagune, and a quinque? Forget it." I scoffed, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"That reminds me, I have something for you." I reached over to the bedside table and pulled out the spool of thread and sanitized needle that sat inside it.

"But I can't use regular needles..."

"It's not a regular needle. Akira got it for me. She mentioned something about Dr. Chigyou. I think he made it for her. I figured you must be feeling pretty weird without your stitches."

Juuzou nodded, grasping the package tightly in his hand. "I do. I do feel weird." The crack in his voice suggested he was referring to more than just his body mod of choice.

"We should go to bed soon. It's an early morning for both of us."

"I'm gonna stay up a little while longer." He gestured to the needle and thread, a small but genuine smile on his lips.

"Okay, then I'll sit up with you." I smiled and propped myself against the wall, content to watch as he stitched himself, the familiar action seeming to calm him down. The nervous tics he had developed while in Cochlea were quiet, if only in this instant, his tongue poked between his lips as he concentrated.

**

I woke up with a rush of misplaced adrenaline the next morning. I was more nervous about Juuzou going into the field today than I'd ever been when I was an investigator.

I tried to quiet my ragged breathing before Juuzou woke up, but I had no such luck. He rolled over to face me, eyes still slightly closedl, protecting themselves from the morning light.

"What's wrong, Y/N-chan?"

"Nothing. I'm... I just had a bad dream. I'm alright now," I lied, I hoping my anxiety wasn't contagious. I wanted Juuzou to be as calm as possible before heading out this morning.

"Okay," he murmured, moving closer to me and resting his head full of tousled hair on my shoulder.

"It is time to wake up, though." I whispered, sitting up. "You have an hour to get ready. There's some food for you in the fridge. I picked it up yesterday."

He dragged himself out of bed, retreating to the other side of the room to have his breakfast. I laid in bed a minute longer, picking my phone up off the nightstand to quickly send a text to Akira.

Message to: Akira (8:05)

Good morning Akira-san. Please watch out for Juuzou today and stay safe yourself, too.

I had just set my phone back down when it vibrated with a new message.

Message from: Akira (8:06)

Juuzou will be fine. Thank you, Y/N.

**

"Are you ready, Juuzou?" I was lacing up my work boots as Juuzou was buttoning up the last button on his black shirt.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Lets walk together, then. Headquarters is on the way to Cochlea, so it works."

**

"Please be careful today, Juuzou. Even if you don't take him down, as long as you're safe... that's okay. I'd rather you live than he dies." I squeezed his hand tightly and he pulled me into a sudden, and very tight, hug.

"I love you, Juuzou."

"I love you too, Y/N-chan." He kissed my cheek, and let out fingertips linger together as our hands dropped apart, as if he didn't want to let go. Truth be told, the last thing I wanted to do was let go.