#though i know it's really long asdfgh so no pressure to match the length if you do reply!!

[quietlyblooms]

this was supposed to be an ask response but well :' )) it went off the rails, so @1punch gets a separate thing instead!!

chiyo doesn't see saitama for a few weeks after her recovery.

she doesn't see anyone for a few weeks, too busy with work and pretending as if she isn't purposely taking on a heavier load to keep it that way. the more chiyo works, the less time she has to think, the less time she has to remember. the more chiyo works, the less likely it is that someone close to her will ask how she's doing when they must know she can't be doing well. they just want her to admit it and confide in them; they just want to be the ones to save her from the storm cloud that hangs above her head.

well, chiyo doesn't want to be saved. she doesn't think she particularly deserves it. anyone might say she did all she could, that she saved lives in the end, and she shouldn't allow the death of a villain to weigh upon her, but it doesn't change what happened. chiyo failed her friend, and she failed her long before her death. no one understands that, only thinks of the wounds she suffered. she's sick of it, sick of their reassurance, sick of---

she's sick of being in the hospital.

a stern doctor chiyo is all too familiar with leaves her with strict instructions to rest and a huffy, " you're lucky i didn't call your parents. " saitama makes eye contact with her briefly before she's resting her face in her hands. she is lucky that they called her friend at her request rather than her family, even if it isn't much better to make saitama worry. the first time he sees her in weeks, and it's in the hospital, looking as if she's been chewed up and spat out. that isn't fair to him.

when she intentionally worked herself ragged, chiyo didn't consider how it would affect her job or the people around her. she didn't expect to pass out, and new guilt rests heavily in the pit of her stomach, settling uncomfortably with what she's felt the last month.

this could have been much worse. she could have passed out during a fight, jeopardized someone's safety. she can't keep doing this.

" 'm sorry, saitama, " chiyo mutters behind her hands before she's running them through her hair and allowing them to drop to the edge of the mattress she sits on. she can't meet his eyes again, can't manage a convincing smile. " i shouldn't be troublin' you with this, but the doc wasn't gonna let me go without callin' someone, and my parents... well, they're already a bit much to handle right now. " she should give them a break -- they nearly lost their daughter. a pause, heavy with hesitation and words she doesn't know how to say, and chiyo sighs.

" thank you for this. "