Seven Deadly

Chapter 10

*Walks in two months late with Strabucks in my hand* Oh, I'm sorry, were you guys waiting for this?

Chocobuck hunters! There's a couple hidden things to look out for in the chapter for some bucks, so I'll give you the list now instead of at the end: 

• Find the 21 Pilots song lyrics for $5.

•Find the Community  references for $2 each, or $5 for both. There are related, so you should be able to get both even though they aren't located together. 

•Find the House MD reference for $5.

•Find the Arrested Development reference for $5.  

•Find the Avengers reference...it's super obvious, frankly I'll be offended if you don't get it right away. $1

•And as always (or what I will now be making a tradition here if I haven't already), when you're done reading if you leave a comment that is more than 500 characters you get a $5 chocobuck bonus, and you get $1 buck for every spelling/grammar mistake you point out, because I haven't been using an editor lately and can never seem to get them all on my own.

•Oh, and uh...vote for Hillary and I'll give you $10 bucks for free. Pls. Guys. PLEASE!  VOTE.

∞

Chapter 10

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Riku woke up sometime before his alarm was supposed to go off, and just found himself staring at your sleeping frame. When you fell asleep you were close to him and had been resting your head on his chest, but you wiggled and turned all night long until you got to where you were now, curled up in a ball facing the wall. If it had been any other day, he would have just thought maybe you were a finicky sleeper, but no. He knew better now. You had geostigma, and he knew what that meant. His father had geostigma, and even though he left Riku and his mother years ago, Riku could still remember clearly how it affected his father. The constant pain that sent his father into terrible fits of rage, the days when it made him so weak he couldn't even get out of bed, and the terrible dreams that kept him awake most nights. He knew you wouldn't be able to hide it for long, even if you were fighting as hard as you could to keep any symptoms from showing.  

He rolled over onto his side and put his arm around you, wishing there was something he could do to try and help you or make it so you didn't have to live with this. You snuggled back into him, unconsciously seeking the comfort, and he sighed as he hugged you closer to his chest. There was nothing he could do. Momentary comfort was the best he could offer. Part of him wanted to believe this was some cruel joke you were playing, but he could feel the tremors that shook through you and see your expression change from peaceful to pained despite you being dead asleep, and knew that it was true. Someone he cared about had geostigma. Again. It was all happening again, and there was nothing he could do about it.

∞

You woke up to a chiming phone, but it wasn't any alarm sound you had ever heard before. You sighed and nestled back into the blankets, think you were far too comfortable and warm to get up for school. You thought that maybe you would just stay home from school today, but then the bed moved and the alarm turned off.

"≈≈≈≈≈≈?" Riku whispered, shaking your shoulder. You meant to grumble 'go away' but it sounded more like a fussy growl than anything. Then it hit you that Riku was talking to you first thing in the morning, and you realized why the blankets felt more comfortable than usual.